Of Protection and Instinct
by Shieb
Summary: A near death experience pelts Plei away from her mother, where seemingly random events teach her much about the worlds she didn't know existed. It's soon apparent that Plei is far from normal- even for a Planeswalker.
1. Spark

"Mom, I am not having this conversation again!" the girl stomped out of the front door of her house, her mother following, exasperated.

"What's one more move?" the woman said. "It'd be to a beautiful place."

"More beautiful than this?" the girl returned, rounding on her mother and gesturing to the area.

The two's house was on the edge of a large plain. The bright sun was out, putting a silver halo on the edge of every stalk of wheat. Far in the distance was a tree that positively glowed from the sun's light.

"If we moved, we might be able to get more money than we do here."

"Not if we keep moving every month!" the daughter exploded.

"No, this place is better- more secluded."

"How are we supposed to get more money when we move away from our clients and farther away from civilization each time?"

"We have some dedicated clients."

"Who buy what? We've never managed to finish growing any food!"

The girl had a point. Next to the house was a field that the two had toiled over for the past month to make soft and receptive to seeds. At the moment, there were a few minute plants sprouting, but they were nowhere near being grown and productive. Given another month, the plants would grow to produce a lot of food- both the girl and her mother had mastered growing things- but they never stayed in one place long enough to see their plants do anything but bud.

"I understand that staying secluded makes us unaffiliated with parties that would try to manipulate and force us into their system. I'm glad that I'm not being forced to make clothes or shoes for the army. But Mother, we've been running from I don't know what for all of my life and nothing has ever happened."

"Nothing has ever happened _because we moved_."

"And another thing!" the girl kept ranting, her long hair flaring everywhere when her head turned sharply, "Although we keep moving and therefore lose money with buying the house and new seeds, we still always seem to have 'dedicated clients' who buy our stuff."

"How else would we get our money, but from buyers?"

"Mother." The girl said flatly. "We have nothing to sell."

"Plei, you don't understand." Her mother took a step nearer to her, but the girl took an equal step back.

"No, I don't. But that's all because you keep me in the dark, isn't it? I'm fifteen now, Mom. You'd think I could handle it."

Plei turned and strode away from the small, rickety cabin that she had lived in for only a month. It and her mother shrank away as the girl chose a path through the tall wheat and stormed down it. She knew she needed to cool off, and she knew the perfect place to do it at.

Pleisorium was a teenage girl who was used to travel. She had black hair and blue eyes, as well as a small figure. Her mother also had black hair, but her eyes were a dark brown, and they darted about often in order to sight any dangers. Still, her mother's paranoia was not appreciated when Plei just wanted to stay still for a little while. Settling down for an extra month did not seem much to ask for. But, for her mother…

It wasn't that Plei minded moving. It had been an active part of her life. Plei just felt that this place was beautiful; the sun was wonderful, and the girl couldn't help but feel… connected to the plain.

Through all of Pleisorium's moves, she had grown connected to every place in one way or another. She had bonded with mountains and forests, enjoying the thrum of life she felt from them. The plain had been the most comforting scene, however, and her mother had given her a knowing look when she said so.

Now, so far away from home, Plei relaxed among the golden wheat as they reached up to tickle her chin even though she was on an established trail. Slowly, the grass revealed a single tree up ahead. This tree was a favorite of Plei's, being the only reminder of a deep forest they used to live at.

Plei expected she and her mother would be living in a swamp next. Nobody ever went to a swamp happily, so it would be a perfectly secluded area. Plei's mother would be happy with that, as she always seemed the most interested in hiding herself and Plei away from the world as effectively as she could. Although Plei understood, she still felt that it would be nice to settle down for a little bit. She needed stability, and recently her mother had been providing anything but that. It was painful watching children who ran around town all day, always being confidant that when they wanted to return home, it would be there. Plei had no home.

As Plei came closer to her destination, she saw something odd near it and stopped to peer at it. The thing was huge and bulky, its form larger than the plain's small tree. Armor covered its soft spots, making it hard for Plei to discern anything but hooved feet and a bipedal body.

Then the head swung around, and Plei saw a bull's head and the small, mean eyes. The minotaur snorted upon seeing the girl, and Plei could see those eyes getting meaner from under its face armor. It took a step toward her, and then lifted up a huge hammer with bulging, muscular arms. Long claws scraped against the handle of the hammer. Plei had suddenly become aware of how sharp its horns were. The beast took another step forwards, roared, and then charged.

Plei turned sharply and sprinted away. She had spent half her life running, so her practice leveled out with the minotaur's long, heavy strides. For a split second, Plei was actually grateful for her mother's lessons; then she remembered that she was angry with her mother.

What was a canyon minotaur doing here? They didn't belong in plains- they belonged in canyons, obviously! And Plei knew they weren't very nice, but this one seemed to have been looking for something. Could it have mistaken her for someone else? Or had her mother been correct? Whichever it was, Plei sprinted for all her life. If she could reach her mother, they could take care of it together.

The thing gave an aggressive roar and Plei heard the hammer whistle through the air as it came down somewhere near her. She rolled quickly into the wheat and heard the huge hammer head hit the ground. The minotaur groaned as it moved the weapon again, but Plei was already darting off, hidden in the wheat.

* * *

Plei thought she had made her way safely to the house. The minotaur had been lost, and when she looked down at the house from the safety of the wheat, everything was quiet. Plei's mother was sitting on the porch, rolling a silver necklace over in her hands. She always did that when she was thinking.

The necklace was valuable piece of jewelry that Plei's mother had refused to sell, even at the worst of times. Both the chain and the locket, which was decorated with an emblem of a shield that was split into five sections, were shiny silver and had been polished every day. Plei's mother had never answered as to what its significance was.

Plei finally abandoned the wheat and walked quickly toward the house. She waved to her mother, who looked up and smiled sadly, the chain dangling from her hand. The daughter breathed a sigh of relief for a moment.

There was a terrible scream behind Plei. Instinct told her to run before she could check what it was. Now the girl was pushing herself to her max while she watched her mother's momentary surprise. Then her mother got up and ran to meet with Plei.

Plei could feel the ground shaking beneath her as the minotaur seemed to gain a new speed and swung it's hammer through the air, sending a gust of wind that moved Plei's hair. It roared, and the girl's eardrums rang. Her mother was running towards her, but Plei had the feeling it was too late.

Something changed in Plei; she was running faster than she ever had, but it still wasn't enough. And inside her, she could feel a sort of warm, burning force. That force was so strong, so full of energy, that Plei could see the world around her phasing out as the hammer swung, seemingly in slow motion, on a collision course with Plei's head. She could see the electrical sparks dance along her hands as she reached for her mother, and her mother for her. With the energetic warmth spread to all corners of her body, the plains disappeared from Plei.

* * *

Plei hit the ground hard. The wind knocked out of her, she wheezed for a few moments with her eyes closed. After a minute, she opened them again.

The dawn light broke over a tall structure. It took the girl a moment to realize that the structure was a mountain. It was an oddly shaped mountain, not bearing the usual triangular shape. Still, it climbed to the sky and gave shade to a small village.

Plei was just beneath a tree on a small hill. She sat up, her head pounding. She had no idea where she was. The last Plei had checked, she had been running from a minotaur at home, and then… Then what?

The girl could see the village from here, but in order to get to the village, she would have to walk in the mountain's shadow. Plei pushed herself to her feet and vaguely noticed her right hand was tangled in something. But it didn't pull her down, and the girl was too numb to bother checking what it was before she started moving forward.

She shivered under the mountain's shadow, glancing up at the rivets and cliffs nervously. This was the type of place the girl had imagined the minotaur would be. Rocks falling down the cliff faces made Plei jump. She was still nervous, her adrenaline still in her veins. Then a feeling of dread settled in the girl's stomach as something very heavy thudded right behind her.

Plei was convinced that her family was cursed.

Slowly, the girl turned. This one was a minotaur, but it was different, It was larger, with matted fur covered in tribal paint. The beast smiled, a cruel intelligence in its eyes. Then it roared, its nostrils flaring and its jagged teeth were suddenly in sharp relief.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Plei said faintly.

The minotaur approached. Its horns were strange, since they had several tips on the outside.

Plei had to duck a fast fist. Her back slammed up against the foot of the mountain. Then, as the beast pulled back again for a blow, Plei rolled forward, between its legs. She needed to get away. The girl had no way to fight this.

A heavy blow to her back sent Plei reeling. She hit the ground hard. Desperate, the girl turned to see the minotaur approach her, an ugly grin showing pleasure at her death.

Searing heat and a bright flame made Plei close her eyes and cover her face. She flattened herself onto the ground, trying to avoid burning herself on whatever flame had just appeared. Confused, she could only wonder what had caused such a sudden heat.

Eventually, Plei became aware that things were starting to cool down. She almost sighed for relief; she would have if she could have breathed properly at the moment. Then someone's laugh made her open her eyes.

"Bit of a pushover, that." said the lady.

Plei sat up to see the burning, stinking remains of the minotaur. She stood up swiftly, covering her nose and turning to see who had killed the beast.

A woman who was a bit taller than Plei and wearing a black evening gown with red flair, stood with her hand on her hip. Her black hair was held up against the back of her head and she had an angular, beautiful face. The woman smiled down at Plei.

"You alright?" she grinned.

"How- Who-" Plei barely managed.

"Laurie Preystar. I'm a Sparkmage."

"So what was-"

"That was an advanced Flame Slash." Laurie Preystar said smugly.

**Cards used: Canyon Minotaur, Mountain (John Avon), Ruinous Minotaur, Flame Slash, Sparkmage Apprentice**

**Shieb: Welcome to my first Magic: The Gathering fanfic. This one came out of a challenge between a friend and I. We basically chose 60 cards and made a story out of it. Details are in the very last chapter, so don't hesitate to look if you're bored and you want a different sort of writing project. A lot of stuff was crammed into this chapter, but I hope you'll enjoy it. The next one's brief, but Plei almost dies several more times! ^_^'  
**


	2. The Summoning

Plei was still dazed, pumped full of adrenaline, and confused. But somehow, the girl found herself being led to the village she had seen earlier by the Sparkmage. The woman had, perhaps, not shut up since they had begun walking.

"Well, Sparkmage isn't quite correct." she rambled. "But really, I'm just an apprentice. My apprenticeship is almost over, though. And I'm obviously strong enough to be a fully-fledged Sparkmage, don't you think?"

Plei didn't answer. She still didn't know where she was and she had no idea how to judge whether or not someone should stay an apprentice here or not. But her silence attracted the Sparkmage's attention.

"Something wrong?" Then she smiled suddenly. "Oh! You're not used to seeing a minotaur, are you?"

Plei tried to shake her head, but Laurie just kept talking.

"Mind you, that was a Ruinous Minotaur, so I don't expect you would have been able to beat it. What were you doing out there, anyways?"

Plei shrugged. She had no clue how she had gotten there; in fact, she wished she did know. It might have made things a lot easier.

"Oh, well…" Laurie looked at her suspiciously for a time. And then her face lit up as an idea suddenly struck her. Plei wished it actually had. "What's your name? Sorry, so rude of me not to ask."

"Pleisorium. But call me Plei."

"Pleisorium?"

"Yeah. Like the element."

Laurie gave Plei a strange look. "Element? You mean there are more than just Fire, Earth, Water, and Air?"

Plei sighed.

"Wrong element. I'm talking on the atomic level."

"Atomic level?"

Plei gave up. The Sparkmage obviously had no idea what she was talking about.

The two made it to the village fairly quickly. No creature seemed eager to attack with the Sparkmage walking by Plei. Figuring Plei was completely lost- and she was- the woman directed Plei to an inn and sat down at a table.

The barman greeted Laurie with familiarity and took her order. Plei was beginning to find it annoying how the Sparkmage just did everything without asking Plei; Laurie had ordered for her. Still, Plei was too lost and nervous to really assert herself.

The good news was that Plei was regaining control. She was calmer, her breathing more relaxed. Also, Plei's brain seemed to have unlocked.

Ok, what did she know? Her mother had been running from something all her life. Whether Plei was involved before or had just gotten involved recently was uncertain, but that minotaur definitely seemed to recognize her. Then Plei had somehow jumped to another world. She knew this because of what Laurie had said earlier. You'd have to be really thick in Plei's world to not know what atoms were.

But what would she do now?

"Hey. Hey! Plei!" Lauri yelled, looking annoyed.

Plei jerked out of her thoughts.

"What?"

"I was talking to you."

'_I bet.'_ Plei thought.

"I was wondering how you got out there. Didn't you know it's dangerous?"

"Of course I knew. Why do you think I was so jumpy?"

"All I saw was you getting punched, personally."

"Thanks for saving me, by the way." Plei said, just remembering that she owed thanks.

"No problem." Laurie said smugly. "So why were you out there?"

Plei told the Sparkmage Apprentice what had happened. She told her about the minotaur, waking up beneath the mountain, and then the other minotaur. She even mentioned a few unneeded things as well, like her mother's necklace.

"Oh, so that's what's in your hand." Laurie said, a look of interest still on her face.

Plei was confused. She looked down and was startled to find her mother's locket gripped tightly in her right hand. Very faintly, Plei remembered grasping the necklace's chain as she had reached for her mother's hand.

"Excuse me." said a silky voice that somehow made the hair on Plei's neck stand up. "Is that your youngling, Sparkmage?"

Plei and Laurie looked to see a beautiful woman in a black dress. She was eyeing Plei hungrily, and it made Plei shiver as she put on her mother's necklace.

"Go away, vampire. If you don't, I'll turn you to ashes." The venom in her voice surprised Plei. When Laurie caught sight of Plei's expression- after the vampire had left- she shrugged. "I'm not a big fan of vampires."

Laurie paid for one night so that Plei would have a proper place to sleep. Because the day had exhausted her, Plei fell asleep on the bed without pulling the blankets over her.

* * *

The moonlight barely lit Plei's room through the wooden shutters. The night was so deep that not even the lamps in the inn were properly lit. Plei turned in her sleep, her hand upon her mother's locket.

The door opened slowly and quietly, allowing the tall, beautiful vampire to pass. When she closed the door, her eyes glowed red in the dark.

"Ah, how long it's been since I've fed from a Planeswalker. How sweet your blood will be."

Gracefully, the vampire approached the bedside. Plei turned in her sleep again, her brow furrowed.

"Take solace in the fact that your sweet blood will sustain me for years."

The hair was moved from Plei's neck. The woman leaned down, her fangs growing. A faint glow emitted from Plei, who looked like she was concentrating.

Something collided with the wall of the inn. The vampire jerked upwards, and then turned to look towards the window. Opening it, the vampire hissed irritably as light flooded into the room.

Plei woke up and flinched. Through the light, she saw the dark form of the creepy vampire. By now, Plei didn't need to ask. The girl leapt off her bed and bolted from the room.

The vampire whirled away from the creature that was glaring at her through the window. Cursing, she chased after the girl.

Plei thundered down the steps to the ground floor of the inn. She saw the inn's owner run out of the back, looking startled, but Plei could feel the coldness of the vampire behind her, so she darted for the door. The door opened with a harsh shove- but then Plei felt the vampire tackle her to the ground. The two scuffled for a couple of moments, the vampire trying to bite her, Plei doing what she could to stop her.

Then, suddenly, Plei and the vampire were lifted up into the air. The vampire let go of Plei, preoccupied with whatever had grabbed her. Plei landed roughly and turned to see what happened.

A glowing griffin had grabbed the vampire and was now throwing her into a pile of abandoned lumber. With a powerful stroke of wings, the griffin turned gracefully to land in front of Plei. Plei backed up quickly, afraid of the beast. The thing looked sad at this and made a soft noise.

The movement down the street snapped Plei out of her surprise. She stood up. The vampire girl had climbed her way out of the lumber and was now pelting down the street.

The griffin barely gave Plei any time to act. With its wing, it pushed Plei towards its back. Getting the idea, Plei scrambled on top of the griffin and the two took off. Plei was plastered onto the griffin's feathers while they rose upwards. Finally, it leveled off and Plei was allowed to sit up.

The view was beautiful. The oddly shaped mountain and the village were both cloaked in moonlight, their formerly golden appearance now a pale white. Plei couldn't see the vampire anymore. Suddenly, she felt a rush of gratitude towards the griffin.

"Thank you." Plei called into the wind. She was unsure if a griffin could talk, but thought she could hear a small trill from it.

* * *

Morning found Plei sleeping. She pushed herself off the griffin's neck. A fond remembrance of last night's escape made Plei smile, but a sudden lurch in the Griffin's flight alerted her.

The griffin backstroked, a sharp cry shattering the still morning air. In front of both griffin and girl was a huge creature. It had purple skin and a muscular body with what seemed to be tentacles for legs. The being's form reached to the sky, it seemed.

Startled, the griffin turned sharply and began to fly away. The creature turned its head, which bore no face, and stretched out a hand to grasp at the flying pair. Plei didn't want to get caught, but she wanted the griffin to get caught less. After all, it had helped her stay a live. As if sensing her thoughts, the griffin gave a thankful noise- and disappeared with a flash of light.

The girl didn't even have enough time to gasp before she began falling. Screaming and with the giant hand still reaching towards her, blind panic consumed Plei's mind.

Heavily, Plei hit something. She kept her eyes closed, convinced that she had hit the ground and was going to die soon. Then she realized that the wind was blowing against her face. Plei opened her eyes just as she felt a crackling energy spread over her.

Now Plei gasped. It was huge- she could feel this place had no boundaries. The very air crackled with immeasurable energy. Islands of earth floated in the air, not conforming to any set of physics. There were different colors everywhere in this expanse of black, and lightning, golden in color, struck in the distance.

Plei blinked and it was gone. What was more, she just realized she was on the back of an armored drake, and they were now flying above a forest.

**Cards Used: Child of Night, Makindi Griffin, Ulamog's Crusher, Snapping Drake, and Forest (Glen Angus)**

**Shieb: Wow. This chapter is even shorter than the last one. Sorry about that. By this time, I was still trying to figure out what kind of story to make out of the cards I was given, and so the five cards drawn became sort of just a random series of events to give me time. As I add things to the story, the chapters will get longer and more complicated, so rest assured.**

**Gah! Why didn't anyone tell me my second and third chapters had been replaced with the second and third chapters from a _different story_?**

**P.S. Can you figure out why this chapter's title is 'The Summoning?'  
**


	3. False Security

Plei looked below her, and saw the treetops passing swiftly by. Then she turned her attention to the drake that she was now sitting on. He was huge with navy blue scales on top fading into tan hide on the bottom. His head was covered in shiny armor. Both his wing thumbs and the end of his tail had been turned into weapons with the same metal. Plei figured this beast was a drake instead of a dragon because dragons were hexpedal and this drake did not have arms.

The girl didn't know if this drake was like the griffin, or if it just wanted to kill her like half the other creatures she had met lately. The two stayed silent as they flew above the odd-looking forest. Then the drake tilted down and began circling a clearing. Plei leaned backward so that she did not fall off.

As the two got closer to the ground, some people emerged from the trees. They looked upward as the drake landed heavily, and then leaned down to allow Plei to slide off. Plei eyed the people who approached her warily. Every other person who had met her recently had wanted her dead, and she had no assurance that these people weren't with them.

"How was it, Draetur?" said one woman, who stepped forth from the small crowd. And to Plei's surprise, the drake talked back.

"The Eldrazi are growing restless again." he said. "The hedrons must not be working properly."

Some whispers hissed quietly in the crowd.

"Yes, I feared as much." sighed the woman. "And what about you? Are you alright?"

Plei gave a start, but nodded.

"You look wild." the woman commented.

"By the scent of her, I'd guess she was being chased." spoke the drake again, his voice palpable in the air as a low rumble.

"Let's get you inside. You'll need rest."

But Plei flinched away from the woman and stayed out of her reach. Strangely, she found she was stepping nearer to the drake.

"Rest, Planeswalker." rumbled Draetur. "You need it."

"What's a… Planeswalker?" Plei asked, swearing she'd heard it before.

"It is a person who can jump through worlds and realities, called planes."

"How do you know?"

"Because I am one. How do you think we got here?"

Plei was shown to a bed, which was among a few other that were tucked inside of a huge tree trunk. Her mind raced wildly before the scents of the forest pulled her mind into sleep. She was allowed to sleep for as long as she liked, and nothing interrupted her. It was nice to have a decent rest.

The village wasn't bad, either. It was populated mainly by a group called the Kor. They were tall and fit with narrow faces, pale or blue skin, and white hair. Every one of them was a working part of the unit. Each one pulled a certain amount of weight. Different tasks were set to each group- whether it was foraging, fishing, building, or skyfishing.

Skyfishing was the most interesting to Plei by far. The Kor would glide along on a contraption that mimicked wings. They would sense the air currents, which would allow them to stay in the air. Then they would maneuver so that the hooks that were hanging off the back would grab onto something. The Kor were graceful in the air, and Plei couldn't help but want to fly with them.

As soon as Plei was well again, Draetur talked with her. She was told that, unless she was taught how to use the powers of the spark- which was the thing that let her jump between worlds- she would eventually go insane. This startled Plei, but Draetur said he would help.

Plei began her lessons. Drae (as she started calling him) started her off easy, making the girl focus on the feeling of each place she had been at. Each land, he told her, had a distinct feeling to it. The trick to jumping between planes and the lands in them was recognizing their feeling. For the first week, that was all he would tell Plei. Under no circumstance would he let Plei jump worlds before she was ready. This made Plei steam, but she couldn't do anything about it.

Anyways, Plei was honestly afraid of being lost and getting attacked again. This village was the most secure place she had ever been to. Even living with her mother wasn't as secure as this, what with the constant moving.

After seven days, Plei was given a day off from learning. Drae needed to go somewhere. The leader of the village had told him to, and the drake pulled his weight just like everyone else.

Because she didn't want to just stay in one place and do nothing, Plei decided to watch the skyfishers. Using the boards that turned up along the tree trunks, Plei traveled up a tall bough and eventually stepped onto a balcony of sorts. The contraptions the Kor used to fly were all propped up on walls, and there was a gap in the railing that allowed skyfishers to kick off. Looking out from the balcony, one would see a beautiful view that spanned a huge, fertile forest and an azure sky.

A Kor skyfisher was flying in now, her catch blowing in the wind behind her. The woman stopped on the balcony lightly, holding the craft and its catch above her head.

"Plei." she said, nodding at the girl.

"Hi."

"Help me with the catch, will you?"

Plei hastily moved to unhook birds and things from the back of the craft. The woman held the craft in the air, her strong arms keeping it steady even when the wind would blow against her.

"Why can't you let it touch the ground and do it yourself? Not that I mind helping." Plei added hastily.

"We're taught not to. It'll ruin the catch."

Plei finished taking everything off the contraption. The skyfisher placed it against the wall. But she hesitated before turning to Plei and taking the catch from her.

"I've seen you watching us from the ground. Would you like to fly sometime?"

Plei now had to balance her Planeswalker lessons with flying lessons. The signatures of each land became sharper and easier to call up through the days. On the other hand, Plei learned how to feel for the wind and sense where to go so that she didn't end up falling through dead space. While Plei was learning about weather patterns, she was also getting lectures on sensations to recognize while going from plane to plane.

In the meantime, the Kor village was buzzing about an angel. Draetur's errand was to send word to this angel about something. Most of the village didn't know why, but Plei saw some people giving her odd looks.

Weeks passed. Plei settled into life in the treetop village. She began to pull her own weight, helping when she wasn't learning. Plei was now able to fly, and she went out skyfishing frequently to snare food, but it was mostly for her own pleasure. Flying was such an amazing sensation, even if all you were doing was sensing updrafts and riding them. She was told it was more like gliding, but Plei didn't care.

After a trip out for food, Plei came back to a very strange scene. While she was flying with a young friend, both began to descend low over the village that was hidden among the treetops. But something was wrong. There was smoke, and it was billowing from their forest home.

The two sky-borne girls dove for the village, flying low. They saw chaos. Something- some kind of spell- was ripping the houses, treeforts, and walkways apart. Not only that, but what looked to be two stone figures were wrecking whatever the spell hadn't touched yet.

One was actually made out of earth. Its features were indistinct, and it moved with a lumbering heaviness. The second had sharper features and looked like it had been sculpted. It had runes covering its body and hammers for hands.

"That's a golem!" declared Plei's friend, pointing at the rune-covered one.

At that precise moment, a chunk of earth sailed towards the girls, forcing them to veer to the sides. Plei found it impossible to stay in the air, so she tried to land. The spell that was tearing things apart split the bough of a tree while she was trying to sink down, and Plei crashed trying to avoid it.

Things on the ground were burning. Dismembered branches lay scattered on paths, making it difficult to maneuver. There were the sounds of fighting everywhere. The Kor had grouped up and were trying to battle the destruction. It was difficult to see anywhere, thanks to the smoke. Plei was just wondering where everyone was when she saw Draetur stumble into view.

The drake's tail lashed at the golem and his wing thumbs jabbed forwards. Although drakes did not belong on the ground, Drae's feet danced lightly on the grass. The golem raised its hammer against the drake. Then it paused, noticing Plei.

The drake did not hesitate; he plowed into the golem. The two disappeared into the smoke, but Plei still heard Drae's rumbling voice.

"Run, Pleisorium!"

Plei turned to do exactly as she was told, but stopped. Emerging from the smoke with heavy, lumbering steps, was the Earth Servant. Plei recognized what it was now, but that still didn't provide the girl with any help.

The being took a look at Plei. Then it strode purposefully towards her, its strides taking up a vast amount of ground. Plei couldn't stumble backwards quickly enough. So she turned and ran.

The girl was tripping over everything in her path, but she didn't stop running. She ducked under massive branches and leapt over rubble, but the Earth Servant just smashed through them. The girl could hear it crashing behind her.

Suddenly, a group of Kor jumped out of the haze. They passed right by Plei and pounced on the Earth Servant. The girl paused to watch, but a man pushed her forward.

"Run!" he shouted before the Earth Servant's fist collided with his head and sent him flying ten feet through the air.

Plei spun on her heel with a new burst of speed since the earthen being had already pushed through those who had tried to defend her. She had no idea where she was going and her lungs were starting to hurt because of the smoke. But she kept running, the sounds of fighting ringing around her. All the while, Plei felt horribly grounded. Was there no way out?

And then Plei thought of it. What if she walked to another plane? She didn't have long to think about it because there was a sudden bright light.

Plei stopped, her hands up to shield her eyes. There was the sound of wings, and the fires went out, and the smoke blew away. Plei's jaw dropped. In front of her, floating in the sky, was an angel. She had beautiful hair, a beautiful face, and she was covered in a magnificent armor. The woman looked at Plei, her black-tipped wings moving gracefully, and smiled.

Noise behind Plei made her turn around. Both creatures were only a few feet away. Plei stumbled back, tripped on something, and then closed her eyes, preparing for the worst.

There was a beautiful noise, two terrible screams, and then a flash of light that pierced through Plei's eyelids. And then there was silence.

**Cards used: Kor Skyfisher, Demolish, Earth Servant, Stone Golem, and Serra Angel**

**Shieb: Again, this chapter is more of a collection of experiences as Plei tries to survive than part of an ongoing story. I find this tends to happen when I'm writing everything by hand first, because I can never go back and insert something I forgot into a paragraph or something. Rest assured, the next chapter begins to pull the source of Plei's troubles into focus as she finds out just who that angel is.  
**


	4. Much to Learn

Plei hesitated before opening her eyes. Both the Earth Servant and the golem were now indistinct from the rubble around them. The girl, her eyes wide, heard the _shk_ of a sword being sheathed. Now she turned to look at the angel.

"Are you alright, Pleisorium?" the angel said gently.

"H-how…" Plei stammered.

"I have been told your name." the woman offered her hand.

"By who?" Plei took it, feeling shaky.

"Draetur. He flew out to meet with me. I believe you were here by then?"

"Yeah."

Despite being on her feet, Plei felt unsteady. Her heel hurt where it had hit a rock. The girl's lung still stung and the tiredness was starting to show through, now that the adrenaline was fading.

"Everyone needs rest." Draetur said as he walked into view.

"But we cannot afford the time."

"We can afford some time." spoke the village leader, her form cut and bruised. "Enough to regroup and make the beginnings of plans."

"So be it." nodded the angel, though she did not seem convinced.

* * *

Many of the young people were sent to sleep. A small area was set up with adult Kor guarding it. Plei didn't want to sleep and her mind buzzed with confusion. Nobody else wanted to sleep either, but exhaustion eventually overtook them.

Plei was the last to wake up. She wasn't sure why, but she was always the last one to wake up. Maybe it was because she had less stamina.

The guards led Plei to where everyone else was. It seemed the guards had been eager to return, for they parted from Plei the moment they joined the crowd. The settlement was a bustle of movement. Some Kor were preoccupied with a gravesite where they had buried those who had died recently. More seemed intent upon packing the few things they had and gathering at the edge of the destroyed settlement.

Plei stopped a child who had a bag on her back.

"What's going on?" Plei asked.

"We're moving." the girl answered simply before hurrying away.

This didn't help Plei at all. It was obvious they were moving. But where to?

"Pleisorium." called Drae.

Plei turned to look at the drake. He motioned his head and the two walked through the crowd, the Kor giving Drae a wide berth.

"The Kor are splitting in two." Drae rumbled. "There are those who will help escort and teach you. The others, who do not want to be involved, are parting ways. Most mothers and elderly will not be with us."

"Why can't we call go together?"

Plei had grown fond of this hardy group.

"The Kor do not mind. This group has moved many times before."

"But _why_?"

"It is dangerous to travel with you, Pleisorium." Drae sighed.

"What?"

"We will speak of this later. Fariel!"

The angel turned from a group of Kor and smiled upon seeing Plei.

"Ah, Plei. Is there anything you would like to bring with you?"

"I… don't have any real possessions." Plei said slowly. She still did not fully understand why everyone was moving. At the thought of her possessions, she grabbed her mother's necklace, which was still around her neck. Fariel glanced at the necklace, and then turned to Draetur.

"I believe the Kor have all made their decisions. We should be ready to go very soon."

"That's good. Though I have grown fond of this place, it's dangerous to stay for much longer."

* * *

The Kor families said farewell to each other. A few said goodbye to Plei, even. The leader of the Kor and Drae shared parting words, and then the two groups went different ways.

Compared to the society of the Kor, the group Plei traveled with was miniscule. The entire group was made of Plei, Draetur, Fariel, a Kor Skyfisher, a man who had a sword on his hip, and another man who seemed to be the one who was leading them.

The Serra angel seemed to think it was important to inform Plei, who was the most clueless of the group, what was happening. Fariel and Draetur argued about this until the forest began to close in on them. Then, Draetur had to take off. As such, he was forced to yield to Fariel before he flew into the sky.

Fariel called Plei to her side. The two were walking behind the navigator, who seemed to be paying close attention to the shrubbery and clouds.

"I believe you need to know what's going on." Fariel started.

Plei was thankful that she was being told. Still, she wondered why Draetur did not agree with this choice. The drake had seemed tense since Fariel had arrived.

"That battle in the Kor settlement was because of you. Those beings were after you."

Plei wasn't in shock, though she was certainly unhappy. Her mother had certainly run a lot, so there must have been a reason. Not to mention all the coincidental run-ins with murderous beings lately.

"Have you been encountered by other beasts?"

Plei nodded slowly. After being prompted, she listed all the creatures she had been attacked by lately. Fariel began nodding solemnly.

"As I thought. Most of the creatures have been of red mana."

"Red mana?"

"Draetur will inform you of the manas and their uses. I will only tell you of the danger. Now, the enemy is a rather ancient Hellkite. Hellkites are creatures of fire born in the form of dragons. This one is a Planeswalker."

"That explains his capacity to chase after me for no reason." Plei mumbled resentfully, remembering her fairly comfortable life with her mother.

"Oh, there's a reason." Fariel said grimly. "You see, the thing that allows a Planeswalker to Planeswalk is called the 'spark.' There are two kinds of sparks. The older spark, only carried by the most ancient of Planeswalkers, allows immortality along with the ability to freely manipulate one's image and gain a major power boost in magic. However, these sparks cause dangerous rends in space. So a new spark was created that would not tear apart the multiverse. The newer sparks do not do much, but instead give a small boost in power."

Plei didn't exactly call this a fascinating subject. And she still had no idea what this had to do with anything, but Fariel was not done speaking.

"The newer Planeswalkers are supposed to have the latter spark in order to avoid damage to the multiverse. However, Plei, you do not have that spark. You have the immortal spark."

Plei found her mouth was open. She was immortal? She had always healed very quickly, but her mother had never indicated that this was strange. And if the girl heard right, she wasn't even supposed to have that spark.

"Obviously," Fariel continued after Plei's silence, "having another Planeswalker- much less an immortal, young one- as an ally seems a very attractive idea. I imagine the first attacks were to activate your spark. The second was to 'free' you from the Kor."

"Ok. So he wants me to be his ally." Plei said, trying to absorb everything.

"Perhaps."

"Perhaps? What else is my use?"

"Well, a spark can be given. Many older sparks were given to mend the tears they created. The Hellkite in question may not want you, but your spark. He only likes minions, and he certainly does not enjoy having anyone who is stronger than him. You can be stronger than him."

Plei felt overwhelmed. This was far too much information, and now Plei was painfully aware of how much danger she and the rest of these people were in.

"What is everyone else doing near me?"

"They are aware of the danger. Each and every one of them has agreed to teach you so that you can survive and fight."

"That's nice and everything, but why bother? I mean, why not just drop me like a hot rock?"

Fariel was quit for a moment, her radiant face still and thoughtful. When she continued, the angel sounded as if she were choosing her words carefully.

"You are a potential power in the multiverse that will eventually be able to contend with the old Planeswalkers. Many would prefer you don't sway the Hellkite's way. Also, there's someone who's wanted to meet you for a very long time."

Plei sighed. So she was just another piece on the chess board. The girl felt a little indignant.

"There is another method by which he may gain immortality." the angel said quietly.

"How?"

"He may gain the elixir of immortality. But I do not think he would prefer it, if given the choice."

"Why?" Plei asked, wondering why you would prefer tracking a girl to finding a potion.

"You cannot guess?"

Plei was silent for a moment. Then: "Because the elixir won't give him the boost in power?"

"Exactly."

"But he can't take the spark from me, can he?"

"The Hellkite has his methods of persuasion."

* * *

Plei felt there was a shadow looming over her since she heard the news. The fact that her very presence put others in danger put a lot of guilt on her shoulders. At the same time, Plei had no desire to go it alone and take her chances.

Training started immediately. When the group made camp, Plei was introduced to her teachers. The skyfisher woman was named Kara. The Kor considered gliding to be an important skill, which had its uses both in war and in everyday life.

The man with the sword also had a ridiculous amount of weapons in his pack.

"Didn't you pack any food?" Draetur said irritably upon this revelation.

"Yes." the fighter said indignantly, reaching inside his shirt to show a small, wrapped package of food.

The Kor's name was Belar. As the group traveled, he taught Plei how to fight properly with a wide array of weapons. Plei quickly learned that fighting was not merely an action of swinging your weapon. Each weapon was designed for a different type of fighting style. One weapon was stout, but heavy and slow. Another was light and meant for speedy maneuvers, while not being very good for defense.

A new weapon was covered every day. Plei preferred the lighter weapons because they were easier, but she didn't have the speed for them. Finally, Plei settled on long-ranged weapons and a sword that was light enough to be quick, but stout enough to withhold attack.

The skyfishing lessons were something of a release for Plei. She loved gliding on a kitesail (she had eventually needed to ask for the name.) The girls would hunt and perform maneuvers in the air, which became increasingly complicated and required more and more of Plei's concentration. The hooks that swung on the back of the kites could be used for battle when the skyfisher was in a bad position, but Kara warned Plei never to fight with a kite unless she absolutely had to. The gliders were best for scouting, not fighting.

Fariel only seemed to be a guard for the group, but the navigator also turned out to be a teacher. The first thing he did to teach Plei was point things about their surroundings. He showed her tracks, told her what the weather was going to be for the next three days, and explained the health of the area, based on the plant life. Plei was amazed.

The lessons were, as he said, based on observation. Plei had to know and see the plant life, pay attention to the weather, and sense the air currents even though she was on the ground. Eventually, noticing these things became constant. She was drilled by the navigator so much- even in other lessons- that Plei couldn't have stopped thinking about her surroundings if she wanted to. In fact, the lessons showed Plei one thing that she hadn't noticed before.

"Do you notice anything that doesn't belong here?" the teacher had asked Plei as they walked in front of the moving group.

Plei frowned, unaccustomed to missing anything that seemed out of place. The navigator gave her a tip, his eyes wandering. Plei followed cue, turning her head to look. Nothing odd was on the ground, so the girl's gaze focused on what was above them.

"Look very closely. Its ethereal form against the sky will be very difficult to spot."

Plei's eyes passed over it a couple of times before she noticed a small patch of sky that had a greenish tinge to it. It was another moment before Plei realized that the discolored patch was moving.

"It is a shade. A being from the other side or a master forces it to move and do their bidding. It has been following us since we left the old colony."

Plei suddenly understood that the shadow she had felt since the day they had set out had not been metaphorical.

"I suggest you stay close to the group." the man said quietly while Plei watched Draetur irritably fly past the shade, trying to scare it off.

Draetur's lessons had by no means stopped. There was a lot more to being a Planewalker than recognizing lands and the feel of them. Each land contained mana and there were five forms of mana.

Red mana, which almost all the creatures who had attacked Plei belonged to, was the mana of fire, earth, emotion, and freedom. Mountains and volcanoes often gave red mana to a mage or Planeswalker. This corner of magic was often very compulsive and destructive.

Black mana, which Plei had encountered with the vampire, was the mana of Darkness, death, and ambition. Swamps and graveyards gave black mana. Plei didn't think she liked this corner of mana because those who followed its dark ways were ok with sacrifice and often didn't care about life.

Blue mana was the mana of air, water, illusion, and intelligence. Blue mages were known to be very manipulative and cunning in battle. Islands and oceans supplied blue mana once they were familiar to the mage. Plei wasn't fond of manipulative people, but she had no problems against the mana itself.

White mana was the mana of protection, righteousness, justice, and light. Those who were white mages often were into order and knighthood. Plains gave white mana. Fariel was in the white mana corner, and Plei could see why. The angel glowed at night and despised all qualities of dark and destructive manas.

The last mana was green mana. Green mana was the mana of nature, instinct, and growth. It was also bestowed by forests. Plei was particularly fond of animals, trees, and such, so she figured she wouldn't have a difficulty with those who followed the virtues of green mana. Still, she did think their ways were a little barbaric.

Each form of mana was used to conjure illusions, cast spells, and summon creatures. According to Draetur, Plei had already used white mana when she summoned a griffin in her sleep. Now, with the certain threat of battle, Drae had to teach Plei how to use mana for a battle.

The simplest of spells that Draetur could think of was a simple cancellation spell. It was not only effective against mages, but was also a skill to keep against other Planeswalkers. While she learned these new things about mana, Draetur never let Plei stop practicing recognizing the signatures of lands.

* * *

The traveling, learning, and practicing took a lot out of Plei. After a couple of days, she would fall quickly to sleep when she wasn't being told about the stars and their significance by the navigator. However, Plei's sleep was never uninterrupted.

Plei woke up one night. The cool breeze blew against her face and the fire still burned, so she knew it was still night. She was about to go back to sleep when she heard footsteps and voices.

"We should try to move faster." Fariel said quietly.

"If we move any faster, even the Kor will begin to fall behind. And they are a _nomadic_ race!" Draetur disagreed, his voice hard pressed to stay quiet with its rumbling intensity.

"That shade has been looming over us for more than two weeks, now! We need to at least find a way to shake it off."

"You should not be so afraid of a shade." growled Draetur.

"It is not the shade I fear, but its master. The ancient Hellkite is not the only one who senses vulnerable power."

The two's steps stopped at the camp's edge. Plei didn't dare to move as she listened intently and hoped she looked asleep. The soft glow of the angel made its way through the girl's eyelids.

"We cannot speed up." Draetur said finally. "It would be too much."

"What of her ability to Planeswalk?" Fariel said, abruptly changing the topic.

"She's still not ready."

"The girl has done it before." Fariel insisted.

"She did it on accident before."

"But now she knows about land signatures."

"Why do you wish to push her progress further?" Draetur said irritably. "She's not a soldier!"

"She soon will be whether any of us like it or not."

"Is that why you're here? To turn her into a weapon and a tool? I tried to be polite when it was you who came to aid us instead of Tharius, but now I can't help but wonder if your past views on Belnair were what caused _you_ to be present."

"Are you suggesting that I came here to help capture the girl?"

"I am suggesting just that."

Plei's heart seemed to beat loudly in the darkness. Belnair seemed to be an evil person by the way Draetur said his name. Could it be the dragon- or Hellkite- that was trying to capture or kill her? If so, Fariel used to be a supporter of the Planeswalker that was trying to acquire her.

"Well. Then this might be a much more tense journey than I originally foretold." Fariel said uneasily.

"Why are you here, Fariel?" Drae growled. Plei heard him take a heavy step.

"Do you really want to know?" Fariel said, her voice oddly hushed. Draetur's silence seemed to be enough of an answer, because Fariel continued a moment later. "I did request this."

Draetur gave a forceful snort and a growl.

"But," the angel said quickly, "It was not to cause Plei harm or bring her to Belnair. I… I wanted to repent."

Silence rang for a moment.

"I have done horrible things for him, Draetur. You know this. After leaving him, I found my hands tainted and with no way to cleanse them. I thought if I could help deprive Belnair of what he wanted, some of my sins might wash away." Fariel said miserably.

Plei peeked. Squinting, she could see Draetur, whose silent form had millions of fires dancing upon his many scales and armor plates. Fariel stood in front of the drake, seeming smaller than usual with her head turned down and her hands in fists. Plei closed her eyes quickly.

"Alright, then." Draetur said finally. "We should get back to patrol."

* * *

"I don't think we should go forward." the navigator said, his worn face in a frown.

"The skies are good." Kara commented.

"What's going on?" Draetur said as he descended from those same skies and landed heavily. "You've stopped moving for five minutes."

"Our navigator seems to think going forth is a bad idea." Fariel said lightly, though a little annoyance showed in her voice.

"And you think we shouldn't be concerned?" Drae said, his voice touchy.

"The plant life indicates that there is a swamp up ahead. It won't only be difficult to traverse, but it'll increase the power of those who use black magic."

"Perhaps, the choice should not be left to you, navigator. After all, this group was not gathered around you." Fariel said in that same light voice.

There was silence for a few moments. Each person, their face showing their opinion of where the group should go, turned to look at Plei. Plei blinked, surprise showing on her face.

"Well, Pleisorium?" Draetur rumbled.

Plei looked at Drae.

"Where shall we go?" Fariel prompted. "Into the swamp, or shall we avoid it?"

Plei stopped herself from spitting out an answer immediately. Instead, she paused to think things over. What were the advantages?

"If we go around, we'll lose time." Plei said slowly. "But if we head through the swamp, we might be just as slow."

This only left the danger.

"I trust you guys." Plei said finally. "Belar still kicks my ass in training even though I've improved a lot. Me and Kara fly circles around each other, Drae has trained me diligently, and I'm not even going to go into Fariel's destructive power. And anyways, if I get lost, the navigator's lessons will let me find my way and survive."

Everyone seemed pleased that Plei thought of them so highly.

"Forward, then." Fariel said, smiling.

"Forward." the navigator sighed.

The group moved forward as one, Drae flying above them again. Plei knew that he would have to stay in the sky until they found a place to camp; otherwise, he would sink into the bog. If they were attacked, he would be unable to help. Plei moved a little closer to Fariel.

For a good ten minutes, there was thick foliage that got in their way. The navigator had a small argument with Belar because the man began chopping plants to make his way through. The weapons teacher was forced to sheath his sword, which was now covered in purple goop. After the argument, the group continued in silence. Plei began twitching at every odd sound. The plants pressed in so closely that she began to expect something to leap out at them.

"Where'd the shade go?" Kara asked curiously.

"I expect it's lost us in this thicket." the navigator responded.

"No, that's not it." Fariel said suddenly, her face serious.

The thicket ended suddenly, leaving a clearing in front of the group. In the middle of the clearing with the shade looming over his shoulder was a rather scary-looking man.

**Cards used: Elixir of Immortality, Ancient Hellkite, Looming Shade, Cancel, Death Cultist**

**Shieb: What did I tell you about the chapters getting longer? This was the point in which I figured out the basic storyline, and you'll see things fill out later on. I'm not very good with character development here, only diving a little in Fariel's past, but it still makes things more interesting. Oh, and I think I chose the wrong name for Fariel or something. I keep forgetting she's a girl. ^_^'  
**


	5. Neutral

His face was covered halfway by a metal mask and the half of his mouth was stretched too far by a red scar. Metal gauntlets and a bronze clasp decorated the man's otherwise black outfit. Only a cloak covered his other half, so his chest was bare.

The navigator gave Fariel a sharp look, but Fariel didn't seem to notice as she stepped in front of Plei. Belar put his hand on his sword hilt and Kara nervously drew out a sling from a pocket and dropped a rock on its middle.

"Who are you?" Fariel said, hand also upon the grip of her sword. "Are you here to fight us for the Planeswalker?"

"Fight?" The man breathed, his head tilting to the side. Plei felt the hairs rise on the back of her neck. "I think of myself more as a messenger than a warrior."

"What message do you bring, Death Cultist?"

Plei could feel the tension between the angel and this strange man. It was no wonder, since black and white manas were opposed.

"The Planeswalker is not your tool. Allow her to walk freely and choose her own side."

"Why? Does Belnair think it difficult to remove Plei from this guard?" challenged the weapons master.

"Last he checked, both sides had vowed not to influence those who were outside the conflict."

Plei was pleased when she saw she was not the only one who was confused. Belar and Kara looked at Fariel oddly, who was frowning with narrowed eyes at the death cultist. A thought struck Plei as her trust in Fariel flickered, and she gathered a ball of light in her hands. It seemed weaker than it would have normally been, but the girl still sent it skyward and through the canopy. She looked down to see the navigator looking at her unpleasantly.

"Drae said to give a signal if we were stalled." Plei said, shrugging.

"There was no need." Fariel said, her voice pleasant but her eyes still locked unhappily with the looming shade and its master. "We will be stalled no longer."

The group began moving forward. They edged warily around the cultist, making sure to keep bodies between Plei and him. He did not move much, although the shade began flitting back and forth, agitated.

"You will not follow your agreement?" The death cultist spoke so quietly that Plei barely heard him.

"I will not let an untrained Planeswalker be left to go insane and eventually die." Fariel said quietly.

"Then I have no choice." The dark man said, suddenly sinister.

There was a chorus of hisses around the party and a sudden chill was in the air. Fariel turned to that which the shade haunted, her wings raising and making her look bigger than she was.

"You _dare_ attack me?" she spat.

"As I said," the man said pleasantly, smiling. "I am just the messenger. If you do not abide by the agreement, we will kill the influence in question."

Plei saw a bright, malicious glare in the death cultist's eyes. Though he claimed to just be taking orders, Plei got the feeling that he enjoyed this when vampires and more shades appeared out of the dense swamp foliage. The hoard shifted into indistinct shapes at the edges of Plei's vision.

The group formed a circle and watched tensely. Plei glanced from vampire to shade and back again. Then there was a sudden flurry of both sides. Plei heard Fariel's war cry, and it pushed Plei on with a kind of bracing warmth. She swung her short sword as quickly as she could to fend off the vampire's fangs.

Elsewhere, Fariel was taking care of shades, which no one else could touch, with her white magic. Kara was slinging rocks at any stray attackers, and Belar was preoccupied with his sword; the purple goop seemed to have glued the blade to its sheath.

A vampire spun towards Plei, claws extended. Plei fended the woman off with her blade, but backed into something hard. She turned to see the death cultist smiling with his mangled face. A cane came up to smack Plei sharply in the head, and she spun around to land in thick vines.

Everything became indistinct. There was a lot of shouting and a wall of bodies and shades separated Plei from the lighter colors of her friends. The death cultist's cape blocked Plei's view, and then there was blackness.

The sun felt warm and the gentle sound of a rising and falling tide fell softly upon Plei's ears. She became aware of gritty sand beneath her and a breeze that was thick with the scent of greenery. The sounds echoed oddly, though. Plei screwed up her face in confusion.

Gaining awareness of her arms, Plei decided to get up. Her hands braced against the sand and she pushed herself into a sitting position. Numb legs crossed clumsily.

Plei was on an island. The beach curved forward to either side of her and ended abruptly in a cliff face. Now that Plei looked around, the cliff face was everywhere. This only served to make her feel caged.

Suddenly, Plei remembered the battle and her friends. But the beach was empty. Where had they gone? How had she gotten there?

"Nice to see you're awake."

Plei leaped to her feet. She spun around to see a man who wore tan and brown cloth. He had a beard and a scant mustache. The man had a pleasant smile, but something lurked in his eyes and made Plei uneasy. Still, he didn't seem to want to harm Plei, so she took the opportunity to gain information.

"Where are we?"

"We're on an island. This is neutral ground between the two parties who grappled for you."

"So…" Plei trailed off, not getting it.

"So neither party can do anything to you here, lest the wrath of greater powers fall upon them."

Plei thought wildly. How could she get back to her friends? Where were they, and did she want to go back? All her doubts against Fariel's intentions attacked Plei and caused her to curl up and hug her knees.

"They can visit this place, however." The man said as he sat next to Plei. "Belnair wishes to meet you."

Plei looked at the man, alarmed. He put a hand up in a gesture for her to calm down.

"This realm is small, consisting of only a few meeting places like this island. Planeswalkers aren't allowed to do anything other than come and leave. The powers that be won't allow it. So when he comes, you are safe. He cannot harm you."

Plei frowned into her knees, unconvinced.

"Are you going to tell me that Belnair is good and that he wants to help me as well?" Plei muttered skeptically.

"There is no good or evil. There are only opinions. Our opinions and experiences are what give us the conclusions as to whether something is good or bad.

"I will not, however, deny Belnair's motives. He has wars waged against him and requires help. Obviously, an old spark is tempting." The man said reasonably.

"I heard he wanted to take it from me."

"Sparks cannot be taken." He said simply.

Plei's foreboding feeling would not leave her, so she was still unconvinced.

"Do you think those who side with the Serra Angel are all good? Their leaders want you to side with them as much, if not more than Belnair."

Plei looked slowly at the man, trying not to think that this confirmed everything.

"Why do you think they taught you and stayed around you instead of just leaving you on a Plane that we do not generally inhabit, like they should have?"

The girl was startled. She had always thought that the group and Draetur- even Fariel at first- had been there to protect her. It was difficult to think that they- her friends- were there to influence her to fight for one side or another.

Plei had a terribly strong urge to go home.

There was a sudden howl somewhere behind the two. Plei turned to look at the cliffs but the man seemed unconcerned.

"That's a Baloth Woodcrasher. It governs the island." He said offhandedly.

Plei was thinking about how warm it was getting when something compelled her to her feet. The man looked up at her, surprised. Just as suddenly as she stood up, an idea occurred to Plei.

"What are you again?" Plei asked.

"Human." The man said uncertainly.

"No. What kind of mage are you?"

"Oh. I'm a Pyromancer."

Something felt uncomfortably wriggly in Plei's stomach. She nodded her head towards the Pyromancer in farewell.

"I have to go."

"What?"

"I'm sorry. I just have to go."

"But Belnair is almost here." He said, standing.

"I know. And I'm sorry. I just feel the need to move, and I need questions answered."

"I can answer almost everything. And what I can't, Belnair can."

"I really don't feel like being around anyone right now. I need to think."

"You can't have questions answered without people." He sounded annoyed now and took a step towards Plei, who backed up. "You have to stay here." Now there was heat emanating from his body and flames sprung up at his steps. "It was commanded."

Plei turned and ran. There was a rumbling above her that signified a storm, though she saw no clouds. Flames rose up before the girl, cutting off her path of escape and eventually penning her in an area that was against a cliff.

"You will not leave here until Belnair has spoken with you." The Pyromancer said simply, flames springing from his eyes.

"You are Belnair's." Plei confirmed. "But I will not stay."

It was hard to believe that Pei was capable of going anywhere right now, since she was pressed against a cliff and surrounded by fire. The crashes from the Woodcrasher rang together with the rumbles of thunder.

"If you will not even consider his presence," the man said silkily, "then you are of no use alive."

Another rumble of thunder sounded.

"I'll try to aim for your head."

Plei thought frantically. Could she make it through the fire wall if she ran? And why was the crashing getting louder? A bolt of lightning struck the ground in front of Plei, and she screamed.

"Sorry." He said maliciously. "I missed. Let's try again."

Plei seemed to have forgotten everything she was taught and- OW! Something hit her on the head! Plei looked down to see a twig before more debris hailed around her. Curled up, Plei heard a crash of something heavier and bigger than Draetur landing in front of her, accompanied by a high scream.

**Cards used: Swamp (Alan Pollack), Island (Scott Bailey), Prodigal Pyromancer, Lightning, and Baloth Woodcrasher**

**Shieb: This chapter's not very long, but I enjoy reading it for some reason. It was mentioned in the first chapter that she was trained to do certain things, but Plei just really doesn't know how to fight for herself, does she? Anyways, more turmoil coming up ahead. I had to twist some things around for the next chapter, but I think it worked out.  
**


	6. Grounded

The fire disappeared, although the heat lingered. Once Plei opened her eyes, she saw the hind end of a huge, green beast. Its tail lashed as sounds of what Plei assumed were snapping bones crunched sharply. Trying not to throw up, Plei edged around the beast to get away from the cliff. She was sick of being caged.

Plei, still shaken, walked as far away from the beast as she could without swimming in the water. The Pyromancer didn't seem to keep it for long and it turned to look at Plei once she was in front of it. The beast licked its bloodied jaws and gave what the girl thought was a grin. Plei flinched; the thing's face reminded her of a grotesque human.

A heavy step shook the ground and Plei took a step back, tripped, and fell. The beast lowered its head while it growled merely a couple of feet away from Plei's own face.

The two stayed there, frozen, for a few seconds. It took Plei a moment before she realized the thing was not intent on harming her. In fact, its growling seemed to be more like purring and its enormous tail was swishing like a dog's would. Plei extended her hand hesitantly to pat its nose and the tail wagged quickly.

Plei got up, baffled.

"You must be the Baloth Woodcrasher." Plei said quietly. "Can you…" Plei glanced at the cliff and assumed that was where the beast had come from. "Could you get me off this beach?"

Baloth snorted as if to say 'of course, no problem,' but the action pushed Plei back onto her butt. The beast moved to the side and crouched. Plei saw that it wanted her to climb onto its back. She hesitated for only a fraction of a second before bounding forwards. She could brave this to get the hell away from the beach.

Clutching whatever she could, Plei hoped she wouldn't fall off as Baloth climbed unevenly up the cliff. After a couple of tense minutes, the beast leveled off and Plei's grip relaxed only fractionally. When the beast stopped, the trees in sight, Plei slid off and hit the ground stiffly.

"Thank you." Plei said, but the Woodcrasher wasn't paying attention. Baloth had spotted something and suddenly bound away to take care of its newest prey.

Still a little stunned and confused, Plei was suddenly alone. She turned on the spot to take in the island. Something that was a shimmering blue flickered near the water and caught Plei's attention. At first, she thought it was just a figment of her imagination. Then she saw a flash of wings.

Plei's heart jumped. Had Draetur found her? Then it sank again. The drake she saw now didn't look like Draetur. Besides, it was too small.

Plei sighed. She missed everyone. But right now, she was alone and she needed to hide so that she would not have to meet with Belnair. The girl only hoped she would not be caught.

Plei walked into the trees, which got thicker as she went. The heat and humidity slowly rose, and Plei wasn't sure it was because of this part of the island or if it was because Belnair had come to this Plane. Whatever the reason, Plei found a nice quiet spot and curled up. She didn't move from here for hours, so afraid was she of running into more enemies. Night fell and still Plei had not moved from her little cubby. She fell asleep to the sounds of the Baloth Woodcrasher's howls and breaking trees.

* * *

Plei woke to the pitiful wailing of some small creature. Thought she tried to go to sleep, Plei couldn't help but be distracted. Then there was the rustling of plants near the Planeswalker, which made her aware of how close something was to her. The shuffling suddenly stopped, and Plei opened her eyes.

Staring at Plei was a small red dragon. Plei had a ludicrous thought. What if this was Belnair? But then the small thing squeaked and sneezed. Suddenly, Plei did not think this dragon whelp was Belnair. The thing looked at Plei curiously, its feet and wings moving uncoordinatedly to keep it standing. Plei thought it was cute, but she was still suspicious. Every red-mana creature she had run into had been an enemy, so she had grown to strongly distrust the creatures that were ruled by red mana.

Still, Plei couldn't attack such a small and helpless creature, so the girl scrambled out of her little cubby and set out about the tree-covered area of the island. The dragon squawked as it got caught in a bush behind her.

Without Belnair's presence, the island as cool and breezy. A crest rose in the middle of the island like a mountain and was covered in moss. There was a small area of small trees and shrubs, but not much else adorned the island. Other than that, only the sea was visible.

Plei spent the day trying to find food. Whatever had been on the island seemed to be depleted by Baloth, so she had no luck on the ground. Instead, Plei found a sharp stick and headed to the shoals. Although Plei felt caged when she went back to the beach, she found a way through the cliffs so she could head back anytime she wanted.

The fishing was difficult, but Plei got the hang of it and caught several fish by the end of the day. Then she retreated back to the woodsy area and started a fire to cook her food on.

The sound of rustling startled the girl and she jumped and grabbed her makeshift spear. From a bush tumbled the baby dragon. Plei relaxed a little and watched it walk towards the fire, its snout in the air. Likely lured by the smell of fish, the little creature had followed Plei here.

Plei grabbed a cooked fish and timidly bit into it while the whelp sniffed an uncooked fish. It nipped at the scales, then looked at Plei. The two stared at each other while the fire crackled. Then it took a bite of the fish and scurried away. Still, Plei just watched.

The dragon did this several times. It seemed to Plei that it was expecting her to attack. But really, Plei hadn't eaten anything all day, so she knew she wouldn't need the extra fish anyways. At the end of the meal, both were full and the little dragon was sleeping on Plei's leg. Plei was tired and comfortable on this bed of moss, so she quickly fell asleep.

The next two days proceeded as such. Afraid of Planeswalking on her own, Plei stayed at the island and focused on honing her abilities. Remembering her classes kept Plei's mind off the fact that unless she walked to another Plane, she would be stuck here. In fact, Plei came to think of the island as a sort of vacation.

The little dragon took to following Plei around the island. It even took to clumsily attempting to catch fish with her. Although it never caught any, it still looked pleased when it ate food around the fire with Plei.

The two even made friends of a sort with the Baloth Woodcrasher. They saw it while they were fishing. It was lounging sleepily in the shallows, its breathing making the nearby ground shake. Plei had learned not to fear it, since she theorized that she was not violating the rules that kept this island a neutral ground, and so Baloth would not attack her. However, it stirred at the dragonling's curious noises.

Plei wasn't alarmed at first. It was when the Woodcrusher eyed the dragon hungrily and growled that Plei grew suspicious. The whelp seemed to know what was going on immediately and hid behind Plei. Baloth approached hungrily and Plei stumbled backwards for a moment. Then, in a sudden spurt of bravery, the girl frowned and took a step forwards.

"Stop!" Plei commanded.

Baloth hesitated. Then it shifted its shoulders and growled again.

"Hey." Plei said warningly. "No!"

The beast hesitated for a few moments before finally snorting (almost knocking Plei over with the action) and turning around to walk away sulkily. The dragon clung to Plei closely for a while afterwards and even attempted to climb onto Plei's shoulder. This didn't work very well and only succeeded in making Plei very wary of the dragon's claws.

Nights were comfortable enough when Plei and the dragon found a thick cushion of moss. Sometimes they were cold, but what else would you expect on an open island? On one such night, Plei fell asleep worrying that she had stayed there too long.

* * *

"There you are." Plei heard a voice breath quietly.

Slowly, blearily, Plei opened her eyes. Above her was a human form that was covered in black fabric, holding a cane, and whose right half of his face shined from the light of the moon. It took Plei a moment to notice that it was strange to see another human on this abandoned island. It took another precious moment to realize that the man's fist, which was glowing red, was being pulled back.

Things popped into place quickly enough for Plei to roll out of the way. The ground next to her shook and she looked up in time to see the cane coming at her. A quick movement of her legs pushed the cane aside and shoved the man back. Quickly, Plei got up. She sorely felt like having weapons again.

"Do you know?" The death cultist said while Plei backed up quickly. "A Planeswalker that can't walk is a dead Planeswalker."

"Have I pissed him off that much?" Plei was trying to buy time while she tried to figure out where the dragon had gotten to.

"You are being difficult." The man said reasonably. "But I'm really only interested in one thing right now."

"And what's that?"

"How did you get your spark?"

"What?"

Plei was quite confused. She had expected some kind of declaration for her death. And besides that, she had no answer to his question. Plei honestly had no clue how she had gained her powers.

"So you don't know?" the man said quietly. "Or are you just refusing to say? No matter. We'll find out soon enough."

The shrubbery shivered for a moment. Then it leapt at Plei. The girl screamed and scrambled away, narrowly missing a swing from the man's cane as she tripped. Plei rolled down the side of the island, desperately grabbing onto anything to slow her descent. Finally, the ground suddenly turned and she was cast into the small, tree-covered area. Trying to quiet her breathing, Plei crawled into the cubby she had used the first night and waited.

A couple of seconds later, the black-clad man walked by. He stopped, making Plei increasingly nervous, and then finally left. After a couple more minutes, Plei figured it was safe to flee the area. She may not know how to Planeswalk properly, but now she knew she had to try.

Plei was almost out of the wood when she spotted the man again. He turned towards her and smiled his grotesque smile.

"There you are." he breathed. "I was beginning to worry that you had left me."

Plei would have run. The problem was that the branches of the trees had suddenly sharpened and stuck out. They surrounded Plei and prevented her from moving anywhere.

"As a woman I once met said," the man said as he walked forwards, the tree branches moving out of his way. "Don't worry. I'm not going to take all of your secrets from you. Just your most precious one."

Plei tried to think of a way out of this. The only way out was towards the scary man. She could try to overpower him, but Plei seriously doubted she could beat the man back.

"Now tell me." the man whispered, putting his scarred face only a few inches from Plei's own. "How did you acquire your spark?"

Plei tried to steady her breath and control her voice.

"I don't know."

"You don't? But how could you boast knowledge of beasts without walking between Planes?"

"How did you know?"

"We all have our own spies. Now, my question."

"I never walked before the minotaur came." Plei said quickly.

"Then who taught you?" his face edged still closer, making Plei flinch as far away as she could.

"I-I don't-"

"Don't lie." He hissed.

A branch stuck right at Plei's throat, forbidding her to even swallow in nervousness.

"My mum." Plei said finally. "She made me study creatures and learn about the world."

"I see…"

The cultist turned and took a couple of steps away from Plei. The hand that wasn't holding the cane rose to his chin. Then he turned halfway to look at Plei again.

"And your mother… You care for her dearly?"

Plei was silent, but the man didn't press for an answer this time.

"So, then, it would be a shame if she died because of you, wouldn't it? Listen, I'll cut you a deal. You follow along. Do what we tell you, and that sweet lady won't be hurt."

"You won't-" Plei started defiantly.

"Won't what? Won't find her? Won't hurt her? I assure you I can and will do both."

If Plei could have lowered her head, she would have. Plei didn't want her mother to be in danger, but at the same time, the girl couldn't help thinking…

'_If I weren't here, she wouldn't be in trouble.'_

Something fell out of Plei's shirt and dangled there, glinting in the light. By straining her eyes, Plei saw that it was her mother's necklace.

"What's that?"

The death cultist turned to Plei, his eye set suspiciously on the necklace. His eye narrowed, and then widened.

"That crest! Where did you get that necklace?" He said quickly, aggressively.

Plei was not focused on answering this time. With the man's hand reaching for her precious object, Plei's mind was only focused on escape. Her mother had run for all of Plei's life; Planeswalking was the out way out that Plei could think of.

'_Anywhere but here. Somewhere they won't find me.'_ Plei thought, screwing up her face in concentration.

While the charge of energy made Plei's skin tingle, she heard the cultist's angry shout. The turmoil of the space between Planes- which Draetur called the Blind Eternities- pushed the girl around for a bit. When she found an unlikely energy signature, the girl headed straight to it.

At first, Plei thought she was still in the space between. But no, this world of turmoil, unchecked energy, and constant change was the world Plei had run to. And she was unlikely to leave because she passed out as soon as she knew she had succeeded.

**Cards used: Azure Drake, Dragon Whelp, Claws of Valakut, Duress, and Terramorphic Expanse (Dan Scott)**

**Shieb: So, this Death Cultist might turn out to be a rather interesting character. He's not only into death, he also knows some things about red mana. Not only that, but he might have alternate motives other than Belnair's orders. He'll be interesting in later chapters. ^_^ In the next chapter, Plei's lost herself.  
**


	7. Home  Part 1

Plei woke suddenly to the sensation of falling. She opened her eyes and felt her hair blowing next to her cheeks. The girl suddenly realized that she _was_ falling and that the mountain of earth above her was crashing down like a wave.

Plei hit the ground. She couldn't pay any mind to how hard it was for her to breathe because if she didn't move, she would be crushed by the falling wave of earth. The girl flipped to her feet and ran as fast as she could. Behind her, she felt the thud of wind and the earth colliding with itself.

The world was in torrential confusion. The ground around Plei was constantly moving. Trees sprouted and grew without leaves, and then collapsed like weak stone. Bones and corpses would appear, and then get swallowed into the earth. Plei was forced to run, weave, and jump in order to avoid getting killed by the dangerous terrain.

Plei didn't know how long it was before the upheaval began to calm down. She did know that she was growing tired and that it was getting harder for her to get out of harm's way. Finally, the ground settled on slow undulating. The girl found herself lying on the ground, exhausted.

"What a great first day." She panted.

Plei quickly got used to the world she had landed on. Each part of the plane went through a flux in which the earth would move and the things would grow while not living. The girl found food now and then in the form of sparse plants and bland, dead meat. It wasn't a pleasant existence, but Plei refused to Planeswalk again. She was convinced that no one would find her here. Besides, if she went to this horrible place after trying to Planeswalk, what kind of place would she go to next time?

There wasn't much to do on a plane that had no living creatures. So, while Plei wandered the area and looked for food and nonpoisonous twigs for a fire, the girl was deep in thought.

The most nagging thought was Plei's self-loathing. She was weak and pathetic, despite her training, and always seemed to run from a fight instead of facing up to it. Other people had always needed to protect her because she couldn't take care of herself properly. Plei blamed this on her mother. Her mother had run all her life, and now Plei had caught the habit like a disease. It was a degrading set of thoughts.

That wasn't to say that Plei didn't appreciate traveling with friends. It was just that Plei couldn't help but think that her mother could have told her some of these things. If the spark was going to activate anyways, why not tell her about Planeswalking instead of just making her identify pictures of beasts every single day? Even a few lessons in self defense would have helped, but no; Plei had only been made to run trails everyday.

Eventually, the girl became so frustrated and mistrusting that she took off her necklace in the middle of an upheaval and chucked it off a cliff. She regretted it when she realized she would probably never find the locket again. But then she steeled herself while skirting a few dead, but poisonous vines. She didn't need her mother. She didn't need a silly locket full of memories. Plei didn't need Kara, Belar, Fariel, Draetur, Belnair, or anyone else. The girl was alone now, and she would probably stay alone for the rest of her life in this miserable place.

When Plei wasn't focusing on how upset she was, she was focused on the environment. Either she was preoccupied with avoiding it or she was intent upon how this place seemed to mirror her inner misery. Thunder fell frequently while nothing grew and the air carried an unpleasant scent. More than anything, this place made the girl yearn for the planes she had been to. Plei missed the forest the Kor lived in, the cool breezes of the island, and… she even missed the bright golden light of the plain she and her mother had lived at before the minotaur had found her.

Despite her pride, Plei began to miss other people horribly.

As time passed and Plei barely survived, the plane she had landed in began to calm down. There had never been any wind, but now the girl found its absence eerie in this world, without life. There were no longer any sounds other than Plei's own footsteps.

The good thing about the plane's stableness was that Plei found a shelter of sorts. Before, she couldn't sleep anywhere with a certainty that she wouldn't be woken up to a tide of sharp bones or something. But now that things calmed down, she could sleep safely in a cave. Plei never ended up staying in the same place because there was not a ton of food anywhere, but she found that there were many places to hide and sit, and even get a fair view now that things had settled down. Not that there was anything to really look at. The land masses were indistinct and there were only the colors brown, gray, and the occasional flash of white in the distance.

* * *

_This was not the first of Plei's wishful dreams. She was sitting atop a branch on a large tree in the Kor forest. Funny thing was that the Kor's houses weren't here, so everything was naturally made. The Kor glided among the highest branches with their kites while some hookmasters used their hooks to leap from wide branch to wide branch._

_Briefly, there was a sparkle of deep blue in the sky. Plei wondered quietly whether or not Draetur would like this place, or if he only ever came here because he had a job to do. Still, Plei thought it would be nice to see him again. She hoped he knew he was welcome here._

_A Kor exited a large room that was made out of the base of the tree. The pale faced girl waved at Plei, the tree's roots dwarfing her. Plei waved back, then dropped quietly from the branch as she was beckoned to enter the room. The girl landed by her friend, unhurt by the 100 foot fall, and turned to enter the gap in the roots._

_Now there was a vast plain ahead of Plei. There were clouds in the sky, but the light of the sun made both the clouds and the world below shine with a pale golden glow. The Planeswalker walked forward._

_She passed the old, rickety house she and her mother had last lived in. Its door was open and creaked in a nonexistent wind. Plei stopped to look at its worn parts, but she did not enter. She just kept walking._

_Farther down the plain's path, there was a small tree. The ground around the dead, sad-looking thing seemed unusually packed down. It was as if someone had paced there for many hours._

_A snort caught Plei's attention, so she turned her head to see the first minotaur she had ever encountered. The thing growled threateningly, but Plei just watched without concern. Slowly, it faded from view._

_Plei redirected her attention to the world around her. Besides this plain and the other forest, she could sense more lands. Mountains rose up in the distance with dark clouds and lightning at their peaks. Plei could somehow tell there were islands out in the water somewhere. Strange, though; there were no swamps._

'_This is what I want.' Plei thought. 'Life, and people, and beauty should be here, not death.'_

_There was a group of creatures huddled around in a circle at the edge of the plain. Plei walked towards them while she absently recognized the dull vibration of energy in her fingers. The animals parted before Plei, and she saw they had gathered around a dead bird. It was a beautiful bird with plumage that suggested it had glowed warmly when it was alive. Plei kneeled and picked the small body up._

_The creatures around Plei made mournful noises. Plei had become aware that the vibration had turned into a powerful thrumming._

'_I can do it.' Plei thought. 'No one else will; they're all preoccupied with their own battles. I have the power.'_

"An old spark is extremely rare for a reason." _Draetur's voice seemed to flow back through time. In fact, Plei saw the lesson before her as if from a third person view. Draetur was much bigger than Plei, but Plei's face had a determined look upon it. Had she always looked so naïve?_

"With an old spark, you can change your form and your species. It gives you an incredible power boost, which enables you to do almost anything. You can make anything and be anything."

'_Then I choose.' Plei could barely hear her own thoughts over the noise of the energy in her mind, 'to create. I choose life.'_

_Suddenly, the little bird blinked. It stood up in Plei's hand, shook its feathers, and took of into the sky. Both Plei and the animals watched._

'_That's it.' thought a male mind aloud. He put a work-worn hand on her shoulder, surprising Plei. 'That's my girl.' He thought warmly._

* * *

Plei turned sharply to see who had addressed her with such warmth, but she found she was back under the tree. The girl rolled over onto her back and stared at the bottom of the tree. Plei closed her eyes when the wind blew her hair into her face.

Wait. Neither her waking nor her dream world had had wind for the last month. Where was she?

Plei opened her eyes again and sat up. She was still in the tree from her dreams, but everything felt real. Sunlight streamed in from one side, between the gargantuan roots that held the tree up.

The girl headed outside, shielding her eyes from the light. Before her stretched a forest. Plei couldn't tell how deep it was because the trees were so thick and big. It was actually a little confusing because the largeness of the trees made it hard to tell how far out anything was.

To stave off her confusion, Plei decided to sense what plane this was. Concentrating, she tried to feel for the plane's signature. When Plei finally found it, she was surprised. This was the same plane as the one she had fallen asleep at. The energy wasn't as chaotic and sharp as it had been, instead settling into a dignified flow. As far as Plei could tell, there would be no more upheavals.

When Plei was concentrating, she felt the plane offer her an explanation in the form of memories. It was as if it was eager to communicate. Plei wondered whether the plane had a mind or not right before she was swamped in am immersive set of memories.

_Plei was back at the dead, unstable thing that was this plane. She felt the energy spike and ebb, knowing these were the times when the world had been disruptive and in flux._

_Then there was a tiny light on the planet. Plei recognized this as herself. She watched as the flux of energy settled when Plei got tired. Then she saw that, as she wished for peace and quiet, the planet calmed down. Plei even got to see a small plant that attempted to sprout. But as Plei missed it, she saw it wither._

_Time skipped by quickly and Plei's light got slowly bigger as she longed for life. Things around her tried to grow and exist, but she was not aware of them, so she failed to help them._

_Now Plei was asleep. For a few moments, nothing special happened. Then, as she dreamed, Plei's light got bigger and brighter. Wishing for life and change, for beauty and warmth, Plei's light got bigger and suddenly began spreading to the rest of the planet in waves._

_Plei was amazed as she watched. The small plants that had died before now sprang to life with frightening rapidity. The plants joined and bound forwards with swiftness, coating the dead world with a blanket of plants. Where plants stopped, they dug into the ground and took root. Elsewhere, earth fell away while water began to pool up from within the planet. Oceans sparkled while a forest had grown around Plei's little light. Then the ground rose to a single set of mountains and a volcano. Everything else settled as forests, islands, oceans, rivers, and plains._

_Plei thought that would be it, but there was a rumbling that shook the ground. It was soon apparent where the rumbling was coming from as a large herd of beasts flattened the smaller plants and spread out along the planet's surface. On islands and another continent, some animals grew freakily fast from microorganisms to fully fledged beasts. The variety of animals astounded Plei. Some looked similar to beasts from her home planet, but none were exactly the same._

_Finally, all calmed down and life resumed._

Finally, Plei was released from the vision. The feeling of another's mind connecting with hers left Plei and confused her. The sensation had been similar to physically touching another, but was only present in the mind. It brought up a question. Was this world conscious? It was a startling concept, but at this point Plei wouldn't be surprised.

Still more startling was the realization that Plei had created this world. While she was sleeping, Plei had reshaped the world and sped up the growth of microorganisms so they had become complex beasts.

Was this the power of the old spark? Could she really do something this big unconsciously and not be tired? Apparently she could, because Plei didn't feel weary at all.

And wait, didn't Drae say something about her being able to change how she looked? Plei grabbed a few of her black hairs and concentrated. There was a small spark and a shock that vibrated afterward. Then the tips of those hairs turned blond. The color spread to the roots of those few hairs, and Plei was happy.

Her happiness at her ability to change her looks at will was interrupted by something she saw at the edge of her vision. Plei looked up as something glinted in her peripherals, and it took a couple of moments to find whatever it was that had shined. The wind blew again, and she spotted another sparkle. Startled, Plei realized her mother's necklace was hanging from the tree, waiting for her to pick it up.

This world may actually be the best Planeswalk she'd ever accidentally done.

**Cards used in part A: Rampant Growth, Overrun, Forest (Jim Nelson)**

**Shieb: Decided to add a new element into the story, but it ended up with this chapter being too long to be just one chapter. Therefore, this is Chapter 7 or Chapter 7, part one. This plane will become very important in other books, so I do hope you enjoyed my idea of Planeshaping. ^_^**

**Things will be heating up from here as Plei grows into a much stronger woman than before. It's all downhill from here.  
**


	8. Home Part 2

Life was good. The grass was green and the breeze was cool. Creatures roamed the world freely, since there were land bridges in the lowest of tides. As a result, the animals had all mixed evenly between the two dominant continents. Plei loved this place. The only part she avoided was the mountain.

Most of the world here was flat. There was only one set of mountains, and they reached high into the sky. Thunder rang there from time to time and an ominous dark cloud almost always covered the volcanic peak. The animals avoided this area as well. That wasn't to say it was lifeless. Plenty of birds and red-mana creatures flourished in the mountains, but they weren't fond of Plei.

All the rest of the animals had grown comfortable with Plei. She had learned to make plants grow during the planet's time of rest, so the animals knew Plei could be coaxed into getting them food. She was also sought after when there was a shortage of water.

No longer was it uncommon for Plei to sleep on the back of a horned cow or to sit idly in the treetops. Lakes and ponds were safe to swim in if you knew which ones didn't have fish that had an unfortunate habit to nibble at fingertips, toes, and backs. Those particular waters were usually dirt anyways, so Plei tended to avoid them.

Today, Plei was leaning against a tree that marked the edge of a plain. Before her was the plain, and she could hear the shuffling of small creatures moving about their business. Now and again, one would pause by her feet and sniff around hopefully for food before moving about its busy life.

In the field was a few of what Plei called cows. The females gave milk and all had tough gray skin and horns that stuck out to the sides of their heads. There was no wind right now, but some tall grass not too far from the herd of cows moved. Plei knew some wolves were weaving at the edges of the herd in hopes of an old, sickly, or young cow straying far enough away for the hunters to make a kill.

A few upright lizards, their front arms small and delicate, weaved jerkily about the feet of the cows. Despite their meat-eater appearance, they pecked at the ground and searched for bugs. Some gathered around a cow that was lying down and picked their food off the cow's back. Plei saw one of the female cows stomp her foot irritably, scaring off three little lizards that trilled in surprise.

Plei smiled and laughed at the little lizards, which looked at her curiously and tilted their heads. But then there was some growling behind Plei. She spun around and looked for the source. The sound of paws kneading on moss-covered branches made Plei look up and catch sight of a giant, hunch-backed, ginger, cat-like animal.

Seeing she had spotted it, the creature bound from the branch and landed in front of Plei. The next thing Plei knew, there was a crushing weight on her and all she could see was ginger fur.

"Get off of me, furball!" Plei shouted as she tried to wriggle away from a coarse tongue. "I said GET OFF!"

The giant cat pushed itself off of Plei and sat down in front of her. Plei sat up and lightly put her fingers on her face, which she was sure was red. The girl had been afraid the cat, despite its constant lack of eating her, was going to be inconsistent one day and decide Plei was a good snack. This issue had happened before with other creatures. Still, this particular beast seemed to be extremely grateful to Plei for saving it as a kitten.

"I swear." Plei mumbled. "One of these days your sandpaper tongue is going to tear my face right off."

When the hulking cat seemed to smile and rubbed against Plei while purring, it was only proven that the beast did not understand a single word of her language.

The deep booming of many cows' hooves made Plei turn her attention back to the plain. She ducked behind the trees as the herd swerved and almost trampled her. What were they running from? Plei looked to see that the source of panic was a Surrakar Banisher.

This was a beast that was present on Zendikar, and had apparently been brought here when life was given to the plane. The thing had broad, hulking shoulders and was covered in grey, scarred skin. Fangs hung from its extremely wide mouth and its hands- the deadliest part of its being- glowed blue.

A dead cow was laying down a few paces behind the Surrakar Banisher and grass died in trails where the thing had dragged its hands. It seemed angry, but Plei couldn't tell why. All she knew was that this beast was going to take out this peaceful herd, possibly all for a little annoyance.

Now beside her, the ginger cat growled and flexed its shoulders.

"I guess we're going to have to take it down." Plei said, frowning.

Although, now that Plei thought about it, the cat would probably die without her help. It needed a precise touch that could maneuver it away from the Surrakar's hands. Then the idea hit Plei.

Grabbing a tuft of the cat's shoulder fur, Plei kicked off the ground and swung onto the beast's back. It froze for a moment, surprised. Then it turned about and tried to unhitch Plei from its back.

"Calm down!" Plei shouted, noticing the Surrakar's stupid look as it noticed them. "I'm going to help you!"

Of course, the cat couldn't understand a word she said. Shouting at it only served to waste time and almost get her scraped off by a branch.

Concentrating, Plei changed tactics. She found the cat's mind with her own and tried to let calm and helpful feelings pass between the two. This was difficult, as Plei was not a practiced mind mage, but she managed to convey the thought successfully. Finally, the cat calmed down and sneezed in irritation. It did not like things on its back.

Now that Plei had a mount, she looked to see where her enemy was and was surprised to see it was very close. The cows had long since fled, so Plei and her ride were closer and more convenient to grab. So now it was only a few meters away.

Reaching out with her mind again, Plei found the cat's own and tried to guide it. When the Surrakar beast reached out, the cat sprang up to the branches of the trees and then leapt into the plain. Their enemy turned with a stupid grunt and proceeded towards them slowly. Once it was away from the trees, Plei directed the cat to leap over their enemy. But they were surprised; a blue palm almost touched both of them and the cat's claws did little against the tough grey skin.

Plei drew a sword from her waist as the cat leaped out of the Surrakar's reach. The sword was the result of many months toil and was very precious to Plei. It was also very sharp.

The cat danced around the annoyed and confused Surrakar while Plei slashed as best she could. Still, they were only making minimal damage. So Plei tried leaping again, intent upon slicing the beast's fanged head. But something heavy rose up and smacked Plei and her cat to the ground.

Plei rolled to her feet, but her left leg gave out immediately. It had been crushed between a rock and the hulking cat's weight when they were thrown. The girl looked around frantically for said cat while the Surrakar beast turned menacingly towards its now smaller prey. Finding the still body of the cat, Plei limped and crawled frantically over. At this point, she was no threat on her own.

"Don't tell me it got you." Plei shouted, grabbing a tuft of hair on the ginger cat's shoulders. She hadn't realized how frantic she was until her voice cracked in panic. "Come on! Get up!"

Her hands were shaking and every second she wasted here meant one less second she could be using to run away. Not that she'd be fast enough now that her leg was useless. Dammit! Was she going to die here, in this place full of life and greenery and sunlight- a place she had created from the depths of her inner dreams?

She didn't want to go back. Plei, despite the easy lope she had acquired from months of running through branches, brush, and fields, was terrified of going back to the swamp or what later turned out to be a nightmare of a 'neutral' island. Darkness and fire scared her, gave her nightmares. The confidence she had gained through the past few months was useless when she was in this situation and couldn't protect herself- let alone her home.

Wait. Her home. The realization that this place was what Plei called 'home' obliterated all other input. Plei had never had a place to really call home. It had always been more like a pit stop or a hotel to Plei than an actual home when she and her mother moved. Had she finally acquired what she had been longing for in the last few years of her life?

There was movement at Plei's fingertips, and she slowly returned to her current predicament. The ginger cat was breathing and shifted its hulking form onto its paws. Its green eyes caught sight of the Surrakar beast that Plei was still unaware of and grabbed a chunk of Plei's clothes in its teeth. With a shout, Plei was dragged roughly away.

Once the two were out of a very annoyed Surrakar's way, the cat nudged Plei. Using the cat's fur to pull herself up, the girl leaned against her ride before hauling herself onto its back. She barely had enough time to painfully move her leg into a proper position before the cat was off again, darting out of the Surrakar's range and cutting the thick skin with its claws.

Plei hung on as best she could, but struggled because her hurt leg did not function properly and could not keep her on the cat's back. Still, she could not afford to focus on just the pain in her leg. While the cat fought with new vigor, Plei tried to find a more effective way to fight the Surrakar beast. She had originally maneuvered away from the trees so she could easily and quickly move around the enemy, but that was proving ineffective.

The cat cried out as the beast's death-inducing hand almost hit both of them. Plei became aware that this would never be enough to take out the Surrakar beast. She also knew that, whatever she was going to do, she needed to do it quickly; the enemy was getting faster.

For the first time since remounting, Plei directed the ginger cat. It didn't want to move away from the Surrakar beast, but the two sprinted to Plei's dropped sword. Plei leaned down, her leg screaming in protest, and grabbed her weapon as the cat ran by. Then they swung around and ran straight at the giant grey beast, narrowly missing its hands, feinted, and then dashed behind it. Plei slashed as hard as she could and cut deep in the creature's back.

Plei and her ride retreated at a lope towards the trees, but stopped halfway to look at the howling beast. It was stretching its hands as if to touch the wound it could not reach. Then it turned sharply and roared stupidly. Enraged, the thing ran at its enemies with surprising speed, its arms outstretched.

The cat spun sharply at Plei's mind touch and sprinted to the trees, the Surrakar beast coming closer quickly. When the two made it to the tree line, their enemy was right behind them. The cat catapulted up the tree, Plei hanging on for dear life. They leveled on a lower branch just before the tree began dying- the Surrakar beast had grabbed the trunk.

Plei felt her shoulders tense as if she were the cat. She would protect her home. Then they were flying and Plei's sword glinted gold in the sun's dappled light. It was arcing downward in a shining blur, and the grey beast beneath was too slow. There was a single swing, and then Plei and the cat landed. The ground shook as the Surrakar beast fell. Plei didn't need to look to know it was dead.

The girl felt a rush of happiness. She had done it. She had protected her home. Plei had still asked for help, but she found the knowledge that she had taken the incentive overrode the fact that she needed help. The power to protect her home and the strength that she had was intoxicating. She realized she could go anywhere from here. Now she had the strength, as well as something to protect.

**Cards used in part B: Surrakar Banisher, Armored Ascension**

**Shieb: And there's the end of that set of five. I found it was kind of sloppily written when I went over things again, but there's little that I care to do about it. Things are still coherent, and it gets the message across. If you still enjoy it, congrats. Onto the next chapter, where Plei's forced to leave her safe little plane.  
**


	9. Black and White

Life had remained green and full of light for Plei. The forests had stayed plentiful and creatures had migrated through Plei's favored forest and grasslands many times. Plei had made friends among the animals, and they had, in turn, provided her with food and had shown her many ways to survive with the help of other beings. She had also been shown shelters that even she, the creator of this plane's shape, had not known about.

Things were good, and Plei had used her abilities to create rough versions of forges, hammers, fireplaces, and a house on the twin continent. From the forge, Plei had produced a sword to replace her first one, which broke, and a knife. The sword was a short sword, and the knife was small enough to be hidden in any article of Plei's clothing.

Speaking of clothing, hers was growing scarce. It had grown worn and thin, but still covered the basics. Unfortunately, Plei had not learned how to make clothes, so the bare strands she wore now were her only garments.

Obviously, Plei needed to Planeswalk. She needed clothes. Not only that, but her skills at forgery were horrible. The girl needed to learn how to improve that ability.

Truth be told, Plei also wanted to revisit some things. The peace of hiding here was intoxicating, but she missed her friends. A certain level of fear stayed with her at all times when thoughts about her friends and her mother kept returning to her mind. Were they alright, unharmed? Or were they perhaps being kept for leverage; or even perhaps dead? Plei feared she would be driven insane if she didn't seek out the answers.

Then again, Plei was frightened of returning to where she could be tracked. Her experiences still lingered as memories, and the girl could only wonder if her newfound strength would ward her enemies away. Presently, Plei was walking through a forest. It was the first forest she had ever awoken to, and bore the large home tree at its center. Things seemed calm, but Plei was aware of the more quiet movements of the forest's inhabitants.

The girl stopped under the branches of a smooth-barked tree and looked up. Above, she could see a giant spider sitting on its web. It almost blended in, with its furry gray and brown self staying perfectly still.

A few birds cawed briefly, and Plei saw one rocket through the branches and into the shining strands of web. The feathered thing cawed more ferociously and flapped feverishly, but its struggles only served to bind it tighter.

Now the spider moved, its legs placing themselves delicately on its home web. Its pincers clicked and its eight eyes gleamed. Despite their helpful destruction of the horse-sized carnivorous birds, Plei had never liked the giant spiders. They were pushy and not at all cooperative.

It surely seemed the end of the bird, and it fell silent as the spider got even closer. But things surprised Plei. The rest of the flock of birds appeared. They avoided the web and attacked the spider, taking chunks out of the spider's legs and gouging out two eyes. The spider screeched and tried to strike back, but was out maneuvered. It was forced to retreat, and the caught bird was cut from the web. The cocooned bird fell to the floor and struggled to free itself entirely while its friends waited on the ground or soared above, waiting.

Plei backed into the shadows of the forest, not wishing some agitated meat eaters to see her. The beasts were her friends, but they were not beyond instinct. Even Plei would cut a friend if she was protecting someone.

Would Plei be the spider or the bird if she left this planet? Her leaving and coming back would expose this plane. Would she perish like the bird, or would she get help? Against Belnair, would that help be worth anything?

Plei proceeded down a forest path. The trees were tall and thick, as if they had lived for years. No one would guess they were really only a few months old. And Plei knew the sounds and the flows of this planet better than anyone else. Right now, she heard something that was not familiar.

The girl barely had time to act. A hook swung in front of her, swinging on a strong rope. Plei ducked, and the hook lodged in a tree's rough bark. Plei rose and turned to watch the string grow taut. She followed the path of the rope and realized where it was going a moment too late.

Now strings were flying everywhere, hooks at their ends. Instead of aiming for Plei, the hooks lodged into the bark of the tree behind Plei. The rope tightened in the same instant, and Plei was pressed roughly against the tree trunk. The girl immediately tried to reach for her hidden knife, but the culprit dropped in front of Plei, so the girl stopped her struggles.

It was a Kor woman. Her skin had a bluish tinge to it and the ropes were wrapped all around her arms. Now that Plei saw more than just the blur of the hooks, she saw that they were not attached to ropes, but leather straps. The same leather held back the woman's hair, and Plei couldn't help but notice thick pads covered the Kor's hands, where the straps were mainly wrapped.

The woman, her face glowering with seriousness, pulled on the straps to make sure Plei was tied properly. Plei's hand was pinned against the tree bark.

"Who are you?" The woman glared.

"I should be asking that."

A strap near Plei's throat tightened.

"I'm not in the mood." The Kor growled.

"How did you get here?" Plei asked suddenly. "This plane is supposed to be closed off; hidden."

"This plane? What do you mean?"

"Frankly, you're not supposed to be here. You don't seem like a Planeswalker, so…"

"Planeswalker?"

"I would be more inclined to answer if I was let down." Plei said, trying to sound reasonable.

"I think you're fine there."

"You're no fun. I'm not going to do anything. It's just that this piece of bark is digging in right next to my artery. It's uncomfortable, you see."

"I have no reason to trust you."

"You have no reason not to."

"I should leave you here. I will if you don't talk."

"You'll die."

The Kor woman pulled her lip up and glared.

"Is that a threat?"

"No." "Plei shook her head, her once appealing voice dropping to more frank tones. "This place is different from where you used to live."

"I know this." The Kor woman said shortly.

"The plants are different, and so are the animals. I daresay any Kor can easily find shelter, but do you know which animals can help you and what plants are poisonous?"

"Are you saying you'll tell me these things if I let you live?" The woman scoffed.

"Whether I live is not the issue." Plei paused, thought, and then continued. "I am saying that I have no problem sharing my food and knowledge. I just want to do it on the ground."

There were a couple of tense moments of silence. The two stared at each other. Then the straps loosened and Plei's feet touched the ground.

"My name is Pleisorium, but you can call me Plei." The girl said as she rubbed her neck.

The Kor woman remained silent, her eyes resting suspiciously on Plei. Plei looked at her guest.

"What's your name? What do I call you by?"

"You may call me Maycoe."

"Alright. Well?"

Maycoe looked confused for a moment.

"Well, what do you want to know?" Plei prompted.

"What were those strange words you used earlier? Did I hear Planeswalker and plane?"

Plei nodded.

"We should find a place to sit. Would you mind walking to my place?"

* * *

Plei was actually very happy to see someone else. The two walked to Plei's big tree home, Plei answering questions all the way. The girl was just happy to be talking, so she didn't care what she was talking about.

Maycoe was awed by Plei's tree. The roots lifted up the bough, leaving a vast space, protected by vines, underneath. Plei started a fire at its center, and the smoke drifted far above before it climbed along the bottom of the tree and searched for escape.

"You hungry?" Plei said, stopping to look at her silent companion. Maycoe nodded her head.

"Is it a lot to process?" Plei asked, putting some meat above the fire. Maycoe nodded again.

"So let me summarize it." Maycoe said, her brow furrowing. "Just to be sure. There are many different worlds, each sitting in what are called planes. My people lived in a space between planes. There are people who can go from plane to plane, called Planeswalkers."

"Yes. What's the last thing you remember before this place?"

Maycoe thought for a moment.

"I was lost in the forest. I wanted to find my home, but this sudden energy surrounded me. I tried to get away from it, but I blacked out, and then woke up again. You were attacked because I assumed someone had attacked me."

"Oh. That makes sense."

The two descended into silence. Plei watched the meat while Maycoe allowed her eyes to wander around the green home.

"Too bad you came around this time." Plei mumbled while turning the meat.

"Why?" Maycoe gripped her straps a little tighter, suspicious of betrayal.

"You see, I'm Planeswalking soon. I'm short on just about everything, so I need to head out. Plus, I miss some people. This planet is pretty devoid of things that can talk. The closest I have had for the last few months is a type of mammal that enjoys mimicking sounds."

"Could you take me with you?" The Kor woman said happily.

"Are you hoping to go home?"

The two looked at each other, Maycoe confused.

"I don't know where your home is, exactly. I've been to a Kor forest before, but I could accidentally dump you somewhere and get you more lost." Plei explained.

"So I should travel with you?"

"Or stay here. I will be back. After all, this is my home."

The word fell oddly from Plei's lips, but it felt right. Maycoe noticed Plei's change at the word 'home'. The girl suddenly seemed happier, and Maycoe was left without doubt that Plei would return.

"Still, I do not wish to stay here." The Kor confirmed. "If there is even a small chance I will end up back home, I would like to travel with you."

Plei thought for several moments. She didn't want Maycoe to leave; it was nice that someone was finally here, on this plane. But there would be no point in trying to change the guest's mind, so Plei finally nodded.

"Alright, I'll take you with me. I will even attempt to regain contact with some old friends, and thereby restore you to your home plane. But I need to get things first, so you will have to wait. Is that good enough?"

"Yes." Maycoe nodded. "It's better than staying here."

"You know," Plei said, removing the meat and handing a chunk to Maycoe. The girl's voice was stung. "This place is not as bad as you think."

* * *

Morning came early for both Plei and her temporary companion. They both ate fruits and drank milk. Plei even nibbled on a bit of left-over meat before leaving it outside for the animals. The girl talked the Kor woman through the sensations of Planeswalking and the things she might see. And then Plei grew quiet, closed her eyes, and focused.

A town. Plei needed a town she could shop at, but it had to be somewhere she had gone before. Otherwise, she might mess up. Her first Planeswalk came to mind.

Both Plei and her guest opened their eyes. A ways before them was a small town that Plei recognized. From what Draetur had told Plei, this as the plane Zendikar. However, things were strange here, and it became more apparent the closer Plei walked to the town.

"Guard up." Plei muttered near the first buildings of the town.

"Always." Responded Maycoe, but she tightened her grip on the straps and raised her arms slightly.

Unlike its usual bustling, cheery self, the town was completely silent and had lost its warmth. Plei shivered and kept her hand on the hilt of her sword. What happened to this lovely place?

Plei stopped when she saw clothes in a window. No one was there, even when Plei called out. Already harboring suspicion about what happened, Plei just took some clothes. She wanted to take more to stock up, but knew her conscience would not hold up. The girl came outside to see Maycoe glaring upwards.

"Fancy seeing that delightful Planeswalker here." A silky voice said.

Plei felt herself shiver as she looked up. Standing atop another abandoned house was the vampire which had once tried to drink Plei's blood.

"Was this your doing?" Plei asked.

"Of course not. I'm a lone vampire; I couldn't take out this entire town."

"Then what happened?" Maycoe asked.

The vampire merely pointed. Both the girls on the ground looked and saw what looked like crumbled gray stone. The Kor did not understand, and returned to glaring at the vampire.

"Is that… the result of the Eldrazi?" Plei asked shakily.

The vampire nodded. Plei swallowed. It was scary to think how close she had been to being touched by the Eldrazi.

"Where's Laurie?" The Planeswalker suddenly remembered the woman who had saved her life.

"Who?" The vampire frowned, leaning forwards and revealing her cleavage.

"The Sparkmage that was with me when you first met me."

"Apprentice, you mean?" She grinned toothily.

"Er, yeah."

"She was taken."

"Taken?"

"Yeah. A bunch of people with red mana said she shouldn't be in a place like this and took her away."

"Dammit." Plei muttered.

Plei turned to look around the town. She would need more than what she had now. For one, something to hide her identity would be nice. A cloak, perhaps?

"I'm gonna take a walk around town. Everybody's dead, so I suppose they won't mind me taking stuff."

"So you're a scavenger?" the vampire snickered.

"In the wild, some beasts will adopt the babies and territories of dead mothers." Plei said, her brow furrowed with thought.

"What are you going to do?" The Kor woman said, her eyes still upon the vampire while Plei headed for the clothes store again.

"Save her." Plei said, stopping in the doorway.

"Why?"

"She saved my life once. I owe her. Anyways, she's the only red mana person that I kinda liked."

"Can you even track a person?"

"Uh…"

Plei's uncertainty was cut off when the vampire, her eyes flashing red, leaped from the roof and dove for Plei. The Planeswalker drew her sword, slashing the air in front of her. The vampire dodged just barely, but lost her balance and landed on her back in front of Plei. Plei's sword swung in her hand, and she stabbed downwards.

There was a moment's pause, and then Plei and Maycoe looked at the vampire. She had just barely dodged the blade, and now she was smiling. Maycoe loosened her straps while standing in front of Plei.

"You've grown." The vampire chuckled.

"You haven't." Plei said dully, raising her sword.

"I think you'll do fine…" The vampire muttered consideringly. "Can I come with you? To save the Sparkmage Apprentice, that is."

"How dare you." growled Maycoe. "After you just attacked us."

"I only attacked her. I've no interest in you. What are you, anyway?"

"I'm a Kor, you-"

"What's your name?" Plei asked.

"What?" Maycoe said, startled.

"I just asked the vampire what her name was."

"It's Tenia." The vampire said before the Kor could protest.

Maycoe did her best to avoid fighting with Tenia. After gathering a thick belt for her sword, a cloak, and things for food and water, Plei closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. It took her several minutes to remember what Laurie's aura was like. Then Plei searched the entire planet for Laurie. She had to calm her panic.

"We'll be Planeswalking. It'll be faster that way." Plei announced before blocking out all sound again. Energy tingled on her skin, and then they were off.

* * *

Plei tried to twist in the air, but Tenia was the only one who landed on her feet. The boat rocked as all three hit it.

"Damn." Plei muttered, rubbing her head.

"At least we didn't land in the water." The vampire said disdainfully.

"That's the first kind thing you've said." Maycoe seethed as she got to her feet.

"Where are we?" The vampire turned to Plei and ignored Maycoe.

"Somewhere else on Zendikar. I'm not sure where."

"Do you know where Laurie is?" Maycoe glanced around, spotting a cliff that extended into a high mountain. There wasn't a beach in sight.

"I'm getting to it." Plei said irritably.

"Oh, great." Tenia sighed.

"Don't get impatient. I said I was-"

"No, not that." Interrupted Maycoe. She took Plei by the shoulder and spun her to look at the sea that expanded away from the cliff. The ocean was suddenly in turmoil, the waves rapidly growing hundreds of feet high. The wind whipped up strongly, suddenly tearing at the group's clothes and helping to toss the boat over. Joining the fun was what seemed to be a small twister packed with destructive energies.

"That."

**Cards used: Giant Spider, Prey's Vengeance, Kor Hookmaster, Mountain (Rob Alexander), Into the Roil**

**Shieb: Fixed some information about what plane they were in and where they went, so that things will make a little more sense. Only Zendikar and Plei's plane had the roil- that I know of- and Plei's plane stopped having the roil, so I had to switch things around so they stayed on Zendikar. You all seem to like seeing familiar planes, after all.  
**


	10. Red and Blue

"Plei! Plei!" Someone poked her shoulder. "Hey! Don't leave me here, alone with this vampire!"

Plei sighed and then felt an overwhelming urge to cough. Pushing all the water out of her lungs, Plei turned over onto her side. She could sense her companions waiting next to her. When she was finished, the girl sat up and looked moodily at them.

"Why am I always the last one to wake up?"

Maycoe looked confused for a brief moment while Plei stood up. Plei noticed that Maycoe positioned herself so she was in between the Planeswalker and the vampire. The girl quirked an eyebrow and the vampire looked unhappy.

"Did she try and drink from me?" Plei asked, trying to find an explanation.

"No." Tenia said moodily.

"I didn't give the tick the opportunity." Maycoe said.

Tenia glared.

"Anyways, where have we ended up?" Plei looked around.

"We're not sure."

The group was on a beach that sloped upwards to some lights that were in the distance. To the right were the cliff-like mountains that rose into the sky. Things were dark now, but Plei could make out movement near the lights. Was that a camp?

"Ok, then. What hit us?"

"It's called the Roil. It's a natural phenomenon on Zendikar." Tenia supplied.

"I don't like this planet." Maycoe grumbled.

Plei had a tingling feeling that was dissimilar to the energy from the Planeswalking. The hairs on the back of her neck rose up. Both Tenia and Maycoe also seemed to tense, and all three looked around for the threat they were sensing.

Something grabbed Plei from behind. She spun around, kicking for whatever bound her. The thing released, though Plei felt nothing as she kicked. The girl was startled as she saw the very darkness of the ground moving.

"To the lights!" Maycoe hissed.

"Is that a wise idea?" Tenia said while they ran.

"I don't think we have another choice." Plei swung her knife, cutting a tendril of darkness.

The group sped forward, breaking free of the many black hands that reached for them. Maycoe's hooks were useless and Tenia only seemed to be intent on dodging. It was a relief when the shadows stopped grabbing for them. The group stopped and looked around. They were at the edge of a line of torches.

"What just…" Maycoe frowned, hooks still swinging a little on the straps.

"I think it's a barrier." Plei said faintly. Her eyes were still glued to the shifting darkness. "The torches are the edge."

"But why would something like that be there?" Maycoe breathed.

"It's a trap." Tenia supplied. She was looking to the side, where a fiery light was coming closer. "And here come the guards."

The three scurried away, searching for something to hide behind. They eventually edged behind a small tent, holding their breath and keeping deathly quiet. A person spoke in a guttural language Plei did not understand, and then the group walked all the way around the tent to avoid being seen. Plei saw what she thought was a fiery hellhound.

"What now?" Maycoe asked Plei.

"Now we look for Laurie." Tenia said, looking deeper into the camp.

"You mean she's here?" Plei asked.

"You took us near where Laurie is, didn't you?"

Plei nodded.

"Cover me, ok?"

The girl closed her eyes and concentrated. She had to find Laurie before another patrol came their way. She looked into every tent with her mind, but was startled by what she found and grew a little distracted.

The tents were filled with grief-stricken minds that felt separated. This separation came from the fact that they had been torn from their families and friends, and they had been told there was a more worthy place for them. Every one of these people reeked of red mana, but Plei found herself pitying their plight.

"Hurry up." Tenia hissed impatiently.

Plei felt herself frown.

The Planeswalker refocused. Laurie was one of the stronger mages in this camp. All the rest didn't seem to know about their abilities, and their powers lay dormant. Plei slowly guided the other two between the tents. Hounds made of bone and with fires springing from inside them walked around with fire mages. Sometimes the dogs would choose to make a bid for freedom and tear at their masters. The group used these instances to their advantage; they quietly snuck around the preoccupied guards.

They made it to the tent, so Plei opened the flap and motioned for the other two to follow. Three bodies lay on the ground, apparently asleep. Each person from the group checked a body. Tenia did so as if expecting a bomb.

"This isn't her." Maycoe frowned at a sleeping man.

"Nor this one." Tenia sighed, looking a little relieved.

"This one's just a kid."

All three turned to each other.

"Where is she?" Maycoe blinked, looking unsettled.

"You said this was the tent, kid." Tenia glared.

"Looking for me?"

All three turned to look at a darkened figure at the tent mouth. The figure snapped, and flames leapt to her fingertips. Plei and the rest grouped together a little closer, preparing for battle.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice those red mana users being taken away? And what's all this about red mana being the _sovereign_ group? I'm just fine on my own."

The three looked at each other while the woman rambled on. Plei and Tenia locked eyes and then nodded. Neither knew anyone else who rambled on like that.

"What are you planning over there, kids?"

Laurie said maliciously, raising her hands a little.

"Laurie." Plei said, taking a step forwards and causing Maycoe to look between Plei and the Sparkmage.

"Ah, so I have a name now, do I?" Laurie said spitefully. "Well, let me show you what I think of Belnair and his empire."

With a motion of her hands, Laurie sent fire at her enemies. Each one grabbed a sleeping person and moved them out of the way. Then Maycoe flung her straps at Laurie and bound her hands. While the sparkmage was preoccupied, Tenia came along her side and pulled back a clawed hand.

"Wait!" Plei shouted, but it was too late.

Laurie burned through the straps and turned to dodge Tenia's claws. Then she punched Tenia in the gut. The vampire hissed and backed up.

"A vampire?" Laurie growled. She had a strong dislike for vampires. "That doesn't fit Belnair's recruitment list."

"That's because I'm not one of his soldiers, you stupid apprentice!" Tenia spat.

"Shut up!" Maycoe hissed.

"Laurie, we need to get out of here." Plei said, approaching the fiery woman. Laurie eyed her suspiciously.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Plei."

"Right. And I'm one of the original Eldrazi. Get real, kid."

"This really is Plei." Maycoe said quietly.

"I'd recognize the sweet Planeswalker scent anywhere." Tenia crooned, eyeing Plei with a misty gaze.

"Very funny, you stupid vampire." Laurie glared.

"Then don't believe me. We still need to get out of here." Plei said impatiently.

"And how are you going to do that?" Laurie scoffed. "Guards are everywhere and there's a darkness at the perimeter of the light that will gladly kill you."

"But you were going to try it, weren't you?" Tenia said.

"Yes, I was." The sparkmage glared. "But there's a difference between one person and four."

There was a booming bark outside and a snarl that sounded like crackling fire.

"We must have been too loud." Maycoe said, peeking out the tent flaps.

"Laurie, what's wrong with them?" Plei pointed at the three sleeping bodies.

"They're drugged. Bit of a shame, really. That man was fun to talk to."

"We really don't have time for this." Tenia hissed. Her nose was catching all kinds of bland scents. "How are we going to get out?"

Maycoe and Tenia turned to look at Plei. Laurie frowned at them and then followed suit. There was no way this kid was Plei, she thought. Plei was small and nervous and quiet. This girl looked wiser. Her body was lean and her hair was quite a bit lighter.

"We'll have to Planeswalk. But if we stay in this tent, we'll be burnt out. So we have no choice but to fight. I'm a still a novice, so you'll have to protect me as I try and focus on a destination for us all."

"I'm not going." Laurie said stubbornly. Plei had never been a leader, either.

"You'd rather be used as fodder for this Hellkite's army?" Tenia mocked.

"No."

"Your best bet is retreat." Maycoe offered, her small twitches showing her nervousness as the sounds outside the tent got louder.

"I offer the quickest way out." Plei said, her hand once again on the handle of her sword.

There was silence for a few moments. Many bodies and hellhounds shifted outside while the occupants of the tent could only wonder what was delaying them. They should have been besieged by now, and smoked out.

"All right. Whether or not you are Plei, you are the best option I have. I will follow you for now."

"Then let's go." Tenia said irritably. "This place is really starting to annoy me."

"Or are you just hungry?" Maycoe said shrewdly.

"Let's go say hi." Tenia smiled. Her fangs were extended and her eyes flashed red.

Plei sighed, but she followed Maycoe out of the tent. The entire group noticed a sea of red. The soldiers were all garbed in red, and fire was either in their palms or sprouting from various places on their bodies. The hellhounds pulled at their makeshift chains, sensing a chance for a hunt.

"Is it her?" Someone among the crowd whispered.

Plei could feel Tenia and Laurie move so they were behind Plei at an even space. It didn't look like there was going to be an immediate fight, so Plei began focusing on the world they were going to jump to. She immediately felt resistance. The sensation was akin to having her ears covered or her eyes unfocused. Everything was dimmed and she could be sure of any of her Planeswalker senses.

"So it is you." A deep voice rumbled.

Plei opened her eyes as the ground seemed to shake from the force of the voice. Draetur's voice had been deep and rumbling, but this one was on a different level. Its bass hurt Plei's ears.

Then the girl's blood froze. A giant red dragon towered above the crowd of soldiers. Its neck was long and curved powerfully, making the horned head look down to see the beings below it. Leathery, pale wings shifted on scaled shoulders. Plei believed there was no mistaking this presence, which made the air around it heat up.

"I take it you're Belnair." Plei said, her voice oddly hushed.

"Yes. A pity we didn't meet earlier on the island."

"Something told me the Baloth Woodcrasher wouldn't be able to stop you if you decided to break the neutrality of the island."

"A wise assumption, but incorrect. I intended only to speak with you."

"Like you dragged us away from our home with only the intention of talking?" Laurie spat. Her anger was burning the air around her with an orange shimmer.

Belnair's slitted eyes narrowed.

"Quiet, girl. This conversation is not yours to attend to."

"Plei." Maycoe muttered next to the Planeswalker. "Let's go."

"I can't. He's stopping me somehow. We won't be able to go anywhere while he's focused on me."

"Interrupting a conversation is nothing when compared to interrupting hundreds of lives! Where's my sister, you bastard?" Laurie was screaming.

Plei's attention abruptly snapped away from escaping. She watched as Laurie's flames, at first in her hands, spread up her arms and leapt from her shoulders. Laurie persisted in her accusations, much to Belnair's annoyance.

"You drug us and then choose the ones you want. What happens to the ones that we don't see in uniforms?"

"They are sent home." Belnair answered irritably.

"Bullshit!" Laurie screamed.

"Don't speak to our lord like that!" shouted someone from the crowd. There was movement and then a mage stepped forth. He wasted no time in sending fire at Laurie.

Maycoe's movements were graceful as she spun her straps. One strap moved to pin the mage's arms on his sides. Then another one wrapped around his head. With a jerk of Maycoe's arm, there was a nasty crunch and the mage fell limp. Maycoe retrieved her straps and hooks while looking at her stunned compatriots.

"I'm sick of listening to this guy. You say you can't Planeswalk while you're around him? Let's get out of here."

"I believe that is the only thing you've said that I agree with." Tenia said. She raised a hand and tensed it, making the tendons pop out and the claws extend.

"If you fight, you will be killed!" Belnair growled. "Talk with me, Pleisorium, and both you and your friends will go unharmed."

Plei paused to think, and then turned to her companions.

"Well, how okay are we with dying?"

Laurie's answer was evident; her eyes hadn't left Belnair. Tenia's eyes were now upon Belnair as well. She thought it over before speaking.

"I've gone this far. Once I get what I want, I'll leave. But until then, I'll ensure you win."

Maycoe slowly began twirling her hooks.

"Without you, my chances of going home are slim." The Kor said with determination. "I will do everything to keep you alive and separate from this villain."

Plei smiled at her companions. Then she drew her sword with one hand and extracted her knife from her sleeve with another.

"I don't want to pull any of you into this. But since you all seem to have your own motivations, I can't find a reason not to get the hell out of here."

"You're truly going to do this before I even-"

Belnair's words were cut off when one of Laurie's fireballs hit his face. There was a shocked silence as the smoke cleared. Belnair emerged with glowing eyes and a deep growl that sent the ground shaking.

"Capture the Planeswalker." He said, still growling. "Kill the rest."

Chaos ensued. Maycoe had real skill with her hooks. She tossed several people into the air and mainly worked on preventing the enemy's movement. It was extremely helpful when she would pull an enemy you hadn't seen away with a sharp hook before quickly dispatching them.

Tenia enjoyed the blood of several people. Even while latched onto a mage's neck, she could fend off three other men. Hers was the bloodiest scene.

Laurie's angry flame outdid all others. There was a man who challenged her and began to talk of how valued his flame was, but was cut off by Laurie's fire. Her protectiveness of her sister made the woman strangely quiet, and it was unnerving her companions.

Plei was given no slack, despite the orders for her to be captured. More people came upon her, each trying to wound or incapacitate her. It was only the sparks' help that likely kept Plei on her feet. She had gained little training in her time alone on her plane. Still, she was a force to be reckoned with, clumsily growing trees and using their bark as staves to smash against her opponents.

Eventually, all four allies backed into each other. Plei jumped and nearly jabbed Maycoe with a poisonous thorn. She made up for it by taking care of a couple of men that had come forth in the Kor's blind spot.

"We won't last like this." Maycoe admitted.

"Perhaps there are too many." Laurie said faintly.

"Could you have thought of this before we all jumped into battle?" Tenia hissed, although she was smiling.

"Shut up, vampire. I didn't think you would complain about this huge supply of blood." Maycoe snarled.

"Even I can get full on a tasteless drink." Tenia spat back, although there wasn't much force in her words. "But it doesn't do me any good if I'm dead, does it?"

Suddenly, the crowd of red pulled back. The four stood stiffly, confused and awaiting some kind of attack. However, they were not prepared for the massive clawed paw that swept them all aside. Plei caught the brunt of the attack and hit something hard. Her head spun and her sight became untrustworthy.

There was a sudden roar from above. Plei wondered if someone had angered Belnair, but that couldn't quite be right. That roar had not shaken the ground beneath Plei.

A blue streak passed through Plei's vision as she tried to stand, and the massive figure of Belnair reared and fell. Now the ground shook, and Plei fell down. Her head was ringing and the world seemed to refuse to stay still, but Plei felt hands grab her by the arms and haul her up. The girl tried to fight against their grip, but they would not release.

"Quit it." Tenia mumbled nearby. "We have some perfect chaos to escape in, so don't ruin it!"

From there, Plei tried to regain some control. She found out why her functions were returning slowly when she found her shoulder covered in red, slick stuff. The blood had not been there before Belnair struck her.

The fight now was just as vicious, but seemed more balanced. Belnair was preoccupied with a blue drake that Plei recognized as Draetur. As such, the newly recruited militia was without any definite form of leadership. All attacks were uncoordinated and as easily dealt with as a single goblin would have been. Plei's group pushed through it, cutting their way through the crowd.

Belnair saw Plei approaching the edge of the camp and roared with fury. He tried to move his bulk closer to her, but the blue drake smashed into Belnair's side and pushed him off balance. The red hellkite hissed his fury and tried to swipe Draetur. Drae's size helped him with maneuverability. Belnair couldn't keep up.

Plei felt something release when she was pulled across the line of torches. But the darkness rose up immediately, trying to pull them down or push them back to the camp.

"Now!" Laurie shouted while she sprayed fire on the darkness in front of her.

"Get us out!" Maycoe said, equally loud.

Plei tried to concentrate. Now she found focusing on the next world came quickly. Everything was incredibly sharp compared to when they were in the camp. But where to go? Home? No, Plei wanted Belnair nowhere near there.

There was a roar and Plei saw Draetur streaking down towards the group, his wings tucked in tight. Belnair, behind him, arched back his neck and opened his mouth to reveal a glow from his throat. Plei had no more time. She picked a place, enveloped all of her allies, and Planeswalked.

* * *

Belnair was furious. The smoldering chunk of ground didn't hold anything. Not even burnt corpses. Plei had succeeded in Planesaking, and Belnair would have to track her down again. No matter. Plei had come out of her six months of hiding. She could be found again.

As to the matter of Draetur, things there weren't troubling. Draetur was kind-hearted and truthful, but he was not the only one who would find Plei again. There were others with less righteous hearts.

"Coverru. Where is he?" Belnair had calmed considerably now, and was ready to stop wasting time to his rage.

"Here, sire." Said a greasy voice. The Death Cultist who had encountered Plei twice came into view, offering Belnair a bow.

"Track her. The girl's blood should be around here somewhere. A blood seeker would be smart. Also, take a lacerator with you."

"A lacerator, sir?" There was mild surprise and curiosity in the cultist's voice.

"Yes. A gift from me to Draetur for past slights."

* * *

Laurie was the only one who was unsteady after they had arrived in another plane. That didn't seem to matter, though. While the others were checking their wounds and catching their breath, Laurie was rounding about. She turned to Plei and gripped her by the shoulders.

"We're going back!" She screeched, her hair a wild black mass.

"What?" Tenia said incredulously. "You were just screaming for us to leave a moment ago."

"Shut up!" Laurie was crying now, looking desperate. "We've got to go back!"

**Cards Used: Tendrils of Corruption, Fiery Hellhound, Inspired Charge, Blood Seeker, Vampire Lacerator**

**Shieb: I think I've enjoyed this chapter the most, so far. It's full of so many distinct characters and keeps moving, not to mention it's nice to see Plei fighting instead of running.**

**From here, there'll be a few plot twists and some interesting characters will keep turning up. I just wish I had done this from the beginning. In fact, I honestly feel like the style of the book changes from here on in. Look forward to some interesting storytelling! In the next chapter, Plei and her allies are given a brief break before they're found again, and Plei is told a startling tale.  
**


	11. Things They Don't Say

"Going back now is suicide. I was able to distract Belnair before, but he will not fall for the same trick twice." Draetur insisted.

"Shut up, you blue lizard!" Laurie spat. She let go of Plei and glared at the drake.

"We can't go back." Tenia said. Laurie rounded onto her, but the vampire was unaffected.

"If we went now, my way home would likely be taken away. I won't participate in this." Maycoe said stubbornly.

"That's fine. I don't care if you go. I don't even care if Plei goes. I just need to get back and get my sister!"

"Sorry. But I'm not going back right now." Plei said.

Laurie looked furious, but Plei motioned for her to keep quiet while she talked.

"He won't kill your sister because he knows he can use her for leverage."

"That's if she's still alive." Laurie mumbled.

Plei waited for Laurie to be silent again.

"Have you seen our condition? I have many bruises and cuts. In fact, I think I cracked my skull open. Everyone else is hurt, too, including you."

Plei was right, of course. Maycoe, despite her impeccable ability to restrain and keep enemies at bay, had a blooming bruise on her pale cheek and several cuts opened up on her arms. Tenia didn't seem to be physically hurt, but her clothes showed that she had been damaged before the extra blood healed her. Draetur's head was drooping a little, fresh marks apparent in his armor, and Laurie was scorched from head to toe.

"We're all extremely tired. We couldn't fight all-out if we wanted to. As it stands, this entire group is as good as a bunch of sitting ducks."

Laurie still seemed like she wanted to protest. But without a proper way to get back to Zendikar, she could do nothing. There was no choice but to follow the rest of the group that had awkwardly assembled themselves around Plei.

"We should find a place to rest." Draetur said quietly.

"Yes, we should. But where are we?" Maycoe asked, looking around.

"It's bright." Tenia muttered unhappily.

"I like it." Maycoe said cheerily, earning a glare from Tenia.

"I think… This is where I used to live." Plei said slowly. "Well, one of the places I used to live. The last one, actually."

Plei turned on the spot. The sun was setting on a bright field of grass and wheat. Very far off in the distance was a small house, and next to it was a small field of thriving plants. As hard as Plei looked, she could not spot the small tree she had enjoyed.

"…Maybe not?" Plei muttered.

"If this is truly a place you have been to before, then we should leave." Draetur rumbled.

"Yeah, I agree." Plei said. Then her stomach growled loudly.

Everyone looked at Plei, who blushed. Then Maycoe looked up thoughtfully.

"Actually, I would like something to eat. You did bring food, right, Plei?"

"Not enough for four people and a drake." Plei shook her head.

"What about that?" Laurie asked, pointing. "That field looks like it bears food. I wonder if it's good. What kinds of food are grown there? Are they any good?"

"Well," sighed Tenia as she walked past the sparkmage and headed towards the food, "now we know you're back to normal."

Plei laughed as she headed towards the old field. Laurie seemed confused, but was happy enough to walk behind the rest. Maycoe followed as well, and Draetur brought up the rear.

"Pleisorium." Draetur said as they walked. "If this is a place you've been to before, we must go."

"You said that before." Plei half turned to him, amused.

"Because it is very important." He seemed to frown. "They'll track us to here in a few minutes."

"I know how trackers are." She said, sounding a bit weary. "There was no intention of staying long. Just long enough to grab some food and go."

Draetur didn't seem quite satisfied. Still, he followed everyone else to the field, which was full of ripe fruit. Since no one but Draetur seemed to trust the food- and he didn't even eat fruit- Plei was forced to try it first. She had almost forgotten the sweetness of it, it had been so long.

At Draetur's urge, the group resisted the temptation of relaxing at the quiet field and huddled around him, holding a few fruits for each person, save Tenia. The drake enveloped the group with the energy of his spark, and then they were at another camp.

Plei was stiff-legged for a few moments, wary of this camp. The last one had been none too kind to her. But people were quickly drawn to the appearance of several beings, so many friendly faces soon swarmed around them.

"Draetur! So good to see you back!" a woman said. She looked human.

"Good to be back. I see our old friend has taken good care of the camp in my absence."

"Not for long." frowned the woman. "He left at yesterday's light."

"Left?" Draetur exclaimed, his voice drawing the attention of people several feet away.

"Ma'am?"

Plei's attention refocused as another lady approached her. She looked kind and attentive and held out her hands. It took Plei, whose arms were as full as her mouth, a moment to realize that the woman was offering to carry her stuff.

"Oh, no, I'm fine." Plei mumbled, chewing quickly so she could swallow.

Nearby, Tenia hissed and made another girl shriek in fright.

"Can't you be nice to anyone?" Maycoe complained, placing herself between Tenia and the frightened woman.

"Only if they're food." Tenia grinned nastily.

"Damn vampires. Do you know any decency?" Laurie said through a mouthful of food.

The vampire began to say something, but stopped suddenly. A look of utter shock replaced the expression of arrogance. Her eyes went from the one fruit in Laurie's hand to her mouth, and then all over Laurie's person.

"Where the hell'd all your food go?"

"Belnair didn't feed anyone in the camp unless they pledged loyalty to him." Laurie glared. "This is nowhere near enough for me right now."

"A survivor of Belnair's camp?" Someone from the crowd of onlookers exclaimed.

"Wait." Maycoe said suddenly, eyeing Laurie with something similar to apprehension. "You fought like _that_ when you had been starved for several days?"

Laurie nodded, but couldn't muster up the energy to be proud; she was too focused on the last of her food.

"Pleisorium?" A surprised voice snagged Plei's attention, and she looked to see the startled face of the woman who was talking with Drae. "You mean you found her?"

Draetur glanced uneasily at Plei, and the woman's gaze latched onto her hungrily. The drake began to maneuver the group from this crowd with his words. It seemed he had not meant to let slip that small detail. Plei wished he hadn't; everyone was giving her the most intense gaze, and it was making her nervous.

"The group will need some rest and privacy. They've all had a rough time, and I would like to speak with them."

"Yes, yes." Muttered the woman absently, still looking at Plei. There was a bit of silence, and then," It is too bad he left."

"Indeed." Drae affirmed. "I will take them to my tent. Please prepare another one for them."

At Draetur's beckoning, the mismatched group of five proceeded together through the large camp. Each tent they passed looked like they could hold a couple of families, and the people bustling about them seemed to be doing things that were very important; their looks of concentration were so intense. However, Draetur's tent outdid them all. His was several times bigger and taller, as well. The group entered and they all found seats. Draetur crouched comfortably so he could see them all.

"What is this camp?" Maycoe said, looking around the tent carefully. "From what I am told, Kor should not be anywhere but on their own plane between planes. But I have not only seen Kor here, but many other species as well."

"Yes, this camp has a wide collection of people and species. I guess you could say the man in charge is just that- a collector."

"Who's the man in charge?" Laurie asked.

"Does he taste good?" Tenia smiled, interrupting what all were sure would have been a long series of unnecessary questions from Laurie.

"We will get to that later." Drae said with a dismissive twitch of the wing. "Right now, I want to know where you have been, Plei."

Plei was surprised at the question. She began to think about it, but found Laurie's hungry gaze too distracting and tossed over the last of her fruit. Maycoe told the woman she would regret this later. Laurie ignored her.

"Well, after the battle with the cultist guy, I woke up on a supposedly neutral island. I managed to avoid Belnair, but ended up getting into trouble anyways and had to Planeswalk to get away. I stayed at the plane I went to for a long time, and then came out of it because I needed some things. Plus, Maycoe needed a way home."

"You stayed there for the last six months?" Draetur said incredulously. "And he didn't find you?"

"I guess. I never really counted how long it was."

"And Maycoe needed a way home, you say. I'm assuming that is this Kor woman?"

Maycoe nodded acknowledgement.

"Why did you need a way home, exactly?" the drake rumbled.

"Something took me from my home." Maycoe said quietly. "Plei planeswalks, so she can get me back."

"Something took you? What, exactly?"

Maycoe shrugged.

"I think I may know." Plei said hesitantly. Everyone looked at her curiously- everyone except Tenia, who seemed to be so full of blood that she was having trouble staying awake.

"When the plane I hid at became steady and took form, I invited… Well, I guess I just hoped very strongly that you guys would feel welcome to come, too. I was alone, and the place was so beautiful that I wanted to share it with you, Draetur, and the Kor that protected me. The wish may have been too vague and- perhaps- Maycoe was brought forcibly to my plane by an accident I made."

Maycoe looked at Plei, emotions wrestling on her features. Plei looked at the ground, unsure whether or not she deserved Maycoe's fury. Laurie seemed confused, but Draetur was stunned. He opened his jaws a couple of times, and then closed them as he put the pieces together.

"Your plane?" He said finally, lowering his head so it was nearer to her level.

"Yes."

"Does it have a name?"

"No. I haven't given it one."

"Tell me, Plei. How did it come about to be _your_ plane?"

"Well, it was somewhat similar to Zendikar and the place between planes in its unharnessed energy and dangerous habits. But with my spark, I calmed it. I guess you could say I gave it's ferocious, confused energy a flow."

"What else did you change about the plane?"

"Everything." Plei shrugged. She hesitated before elaborating, since she got the odd feeling she was divulging precious secrets. "One week it was the fury of moving land mass where nothing grew that did not die or rot. The next, it was covered in plants, animals, plenty of bugs… and I've never seen another upheaval."

"Is it true?" a voice announced their presence just before Fariel entered, sweeping past the others and heading straight for Draetur. "Have you found Plei?"

Draetur was oddly stiff, but eventually nodded towards Plei. Fariel turned. It took a second, but her eyes lit up when she recognized the girl.

"Pleisorium!" Fariel said, spreading her arms and approaching. Plei had barely enough time to stand before she was enveloped in a strong hug. The angel was still wearing armor, she noticed.

"We were all so worried." Fariel was saying while Plei tried to see past a curtain of golden hair. "We realized during the fight that you had been taken, but the enemy never let up." Fariel took half a step back, now placing her hands on Plei's shoulders. "We couldn't get you in time, and we've been trying to find you since. Draetur's been walking every day since then to find you."

Plei looked at Draetur, stunned. But the drake seemed unhappy about something. Plei had a sneaking suspicion it was because Draetur still didn't trust Fariel.

"Where were you hiding?" the angel inquired.

"She found a secluded plane." Draetur said, drawing Fariel's attention. "Something about it shielded her from Belnair's grasp."

"Does this plane have a name?" The winged woman looked between human and drake.

"No." Plei answered immediately. "I didn't socialize with the natives, so I never got a name."

There was some quiet in the tent. Fariel looked disappointed. Laurie seemed to be fidgeting to ward off the strong desire to talk, and Maycoe was looking oddly at Plei. Tenia peeked curiously past her blood-heavy eyelids, looking somewhat like a cat by the way she rested, curled up in her chair.

"I see." Fariel said, and there was something odd in her voice. "No wonder you left. It can't have been fun there. Well," now she turned to Draetur. "I must go. Take care of her, Drae. Otherwise, he'll have your hide."

"As if he could hide a drake in his current state." Draetur growled as Fariel left.

There was a minute's silence in the tent. Then it was shattered by the most expected individual.

"Ok, what is this all about? Plei can jump from world to world, I don't even know what this chick is," she gestured to Maycoe, "and how in the hell can you talk?"

"Oh, that's right" Plei said. "You're the only one here who doesn't know about Planeswalkers."

"Explain to her later." Maycoe said, earning an annoyed look from Laurie.

"No, explain to me now. I'm the only one out of the loop here." Laurie exclaimed.

"And all of us have no clue what this place is." Plei said. "I promise we'll fill you in, Laurie, but I'm a little more curious about what's going on here."

"Please settle down." Draetur interrupted. "I can answer both your questions. Now, Laurie, is it? Planeswalkers like Plei and I can walk from world to world, like you said, but we call them planes. The cause of this gives creatures that are otherwise incapable the ability of speech. I am a Planeswalker, therefore, I gained the ability to talk when I triggered my spark.

"The man who leads the people of this camp is also like Plei and I. He is rather widely traveled, even for a Planeswalker, so most planes know at least rumors about him. What plane are you from, Laurie?"

"Zendikar." Laurie said uncertainly.

"It was a long time ago, but he grew a large forest on Zendikar once. It has since been the calmest place on an otherwise torrential plane."

Laurie's eyes widened.

"But that was hundreds of years ago!"

"Yes. He is very long-lived. In fact, by all rights, he should be dead. However, lately, he has been a little under the weather."

"Why?" Plei asked.

"Well, this actually has a little to do with you, Plei. You see-"

"What's the point?" Laurie interrupted.

"Pardon?" Draetur tried to say politely while Plei attempted to squash her annoyance.

"This whole gathering is eye-catching and all, but what's the purpose? I mean, there are people of every species here. I've seen elves, more of her," She gestured to Maycoe again, "and extremely short people."

"When your eyes are opened to something like there being many more worlds beyond your own, there is no going back or returning to a fully normal life. These people are friends of the leader and have allowed themselves to be gathered. In this case, it is for the purpose of bringing down Belnair."

"All of this for Belnair?" Maycoe raised a pale brow.

"I admit it seems a bit excessive. About sixteen years ago, he wouldn't have needed this much help."

"Why?" Plei asked again.

Draetur looked at Plei, a strange expression on his face that seemed similar to discontent.

"We've talked enough. It's getting late. You should all be resting now. I'm sure it's been a long day for all of you."

* * *

Plei awoke to the sounds of chaos. Her head had been cleaned the night before, but the headache from cracking her skull persisted. The loud noises outside did not help.

"Get up!" Maycoe hissed in the dim light as she refitted her hooks.

Plei got up, rolling out of her bed unsteadily. She noticed that Laurie and Tenia weren't there before she grabbed her sword and strapped it on. After retrieving her knife from under her pillow, the girl hurried out of the tent.

"Nice to see you're still alive." Said a greasy voice. The death cultist stood before the tent amidst the chaos, seeming to be the only calm thing here. He smiled, and both Plei and Maycoe readied for battle. However, the man frowned briefly as he seemed to notice Maycoe.

"You're unneeded." He said simply, and with a wave of his hand, a vampire jumped out of nowhere and engaged the Kor. Maycoe had no choice but to leap away while the cultist redirected his attention.

"How'd you find me?" Plei said. Her hand was tense upon the handle of her blade.

"Blood trackers can follow the scent of blood anywhere." He motioned toward the vampire that preoccupied Maycoe before putting the hand on his chest. "And Belnair thinks he has gained my allegiance. Planeswalking is such a convenience, isn't it?" his eyes set somewhat hungrily on Plei. "But such a young and powerful Planeswalker is so rare. I wonder if I could kill you without destroying your brain."

"That's _my_ Walker!" Tenia came flying from nowhere, her claws scraping against Coverru. "Get your own!"

Laurie ran to Plei while both the blood tracker and Coverru were preoccupied.

"Let's go! We need to get away before this guy actually tries to make you into a zombie."

The two girls turned and began to run off, but didn't make it five steps before a thick, broken beam of wood from a tent hit the ground in front of them. Plei turned to face the death cultist. In the distance, both girls heard Draetur's screech as he tore through the skies, trying to dislodge a vampire. Plei trusted Drae to take care of himself. She was more focused on Tenia, who was knocked out a little ways away.

"You didn't think I'd let you leave, did you?"

There were some strange popping noises as bones made their way out of the man's exposed flesh. Some skin actually started to burn or fall away. Laurie put a hand to her nose and mouth, looking sick. Plei didn't want to look, but had no choice since he was her enemy.

"This is what my research has come to." The man said, raising a half-rotted hand. "Behold my unholy strength. You will not escape it."

A dark orb formed in his hands, and he chucked it at Plei and Laurie. It was too fast to dodge, but Plei still lifted her hands. The orb collided with something that lit up from the point of impact, revealing a glowing shield that stood between Plei and Laurie, and the death cultist. As the shield and orb wrestled with each other, the shield gave off small bolts of energy that trailed along the ground and nearby objects, creating burnt lines. With a flick of Coverru's hand, the orb disappeared and the shield, unneeded, faded from view.

"How sweet of you." The man sneered. "But you don't really expect me to leave your retrieval to only _my_ abilities, do you?"

The vampire lacerator now appeared from the shadows, making Laurie fly several feet. The lacerator bound away as Plei suddenly felt a warm breeze behind her. Draetur was above, streaking downward as he roared in fury. A giant hand, armed with claws, wrapped its fingers around Plei's waist, and a sudden tug and tingling of power informed her she had just been forced to another world.

* * *

The light here was bright and made Plei blink. It took a couple of moments for her to adjust and see everything. She was in a vast field with giant hedrons floating in the air and resting, broken, on the ground. The grass was short and sparse, clinging to the earth. Clouds covered most of the sky, but some sunlight shone through. Far off, Plei could see what looked like a lake.

The sights were amazing, but Plei just left a battle for her and her friend's life. The girl spun on her feet. She quickly found her captor, which turned out to be Belnair. He stood tall, though he seemed smaller than Plei remembered.

"Calm down." He said as Plei readied for some kind of battle. "What will it take for you to understand that I don't want to fight you?"

Plei blinked, suddenly uncertain in her stance. Belnair was not threatening or overbearing right now. His voice was softer than she was used to and sounded tired and maybe sad. This was not the same Belnair Plei had been made to fear.

"Your actions and the rumors about you aren't exactly helping to convince me it's worth it."

"That's why I wanted to talk to you." He said imploringly, shifting his giant wings on his back. "Who I am is contrary to how they portray me."

Plei was silent, although it was clear by her gaze that she was not convinced. Belnair took a breath for speech, but hesitated for a moment.

"Draetur… Has he told you our relation?"

Plei raised an eyebrow.

"Having any relation to you is… kind of creepy." She admitted.

The dragon allowed a short, nervous laugh.

"I see. Then I must apologize. You see, I…" the dragon hesitated again. "You…" He seemed to rethink something. Then his form shrank and moved. Finally, there was a tall man with red and black hair falling to his shoulders. "Plei. You are my daughter." He said sheepishly.

Everything stopped. Plei became unaware of the wind, the scent of the earth, and the sound of the waves off in the distance. Not a thought moved in her head or was created. It took a long moment of shock for anything to work again.

"Pardon my slander," Plei said faintly, "but you've got to be shitting me."

"Hardly." His face was tense, waiting to see if Plei immediately refuted or accepted his claim. "I may be harsh and demanding, but I don't waste my energy with lying. The explanation is long and a little complicated, if you would consent to listen."

Plei couldn't exactly think straight, but she somehow cranked out the basic thoughts. Right now, she was aware that Belnair had been possessive before. Moving past wondering if it was because he wanted his daughter back, Plei thought trying to leave might be a detriment to her health. So she really didn't have a choice, did she?

"Alright." Plei said cautiously.

With a motion of his hand, Belnair gestured for Plei to walk with him. The two headed toward the lake. Plei's mind immediately wondered if he planned on drowning her. She pushed it aside, berating herself for her stupidity. He wouldn't need to drown her if he chose to kill her.

"Your mother and I fully intended your birth. We were both going to be long-lived, and we hoped you would be long-lived as well, but…" he hesitated, worry plaguing his features. "When you were born, we knew immediately that you were sick. In order to counter this, I gave you my spark. To our relief, color returned to your cheeks."

Plei was still stunned. She listened quietly to the man speak. She couldn't help but notice, though, that his expressions were a bit strained.

"My enemies were overjoyed. I had been immortal before, and now I had been weakened. Not only that, but a newborn babe of mine now held my power, albeit latent power. The opportunity was too good to be true, so we were attacked. I hope you will forgive me for leaving you."

Now they had arrived at the shore of the lake. Plei watched as the Roil made the waters thrash violently. But then, they swirled up and away from the floor of the lake, revealing what looked like a building. Looking closer, she saw that the construct was made of hedrons.

"I wish to tell you more." Belnair said, still hesitant. "But I'd like you to stay by my side from now on. We are related by blood," he turned to Plei and smiled, "right?" he said.

**Cards Used: Unholy Strength, Shieldmate's Blessing, Plains (Vincent Proce), Mysteries of the Deep, Sign in Blood**

**Shieb: And there's one twist. Another one appears in the next chapter, but I wonder- do you believe Belnair's words?**

**Anyways, a little explanation about the cards. Sorry I wrote half a chapter before even getting to the first one- it made this chapter rather long, but I hope you don't mind. You may think that Sign in Blood is lacking in appearance, but I tried to slip that in at the very end. When Belnair asks Plei to stay near him because they are related by blood, that is the Sign in Blood card. They are related by blood, right? So she's obligated, right?  
**


	12. Green

Plei was silent for a time. She could tell Belnair was waiting for her answer. Did she believe his story? Or did she still believe him to be the enemy?

"I…"

If Plei was honest with herself, she believed this person was not her father. In fact, the thought was a little frightening. But if he was lying, saying she didn't believe him could destroy her chance of getting away.

"Well, I…"

Her eyes darted to the ground and then looked to the side guiltily.

"I see." Belnair said, and Plei looked up. "You are undecided, correct?"

"Yes. I still don't know what to make of this."

"Why, if I may ask, are you so uncertain?"

"Well, firstly, it's a lot to take in. And also…" Her voice became a little quiet. "Draetur might not…"

"You shouldn't listen to him." Belnair said, suddenly vicious-sounding.

"Why not?" Plei's voice was a little nervous.

"Draetur and I… are enemies. He was one of the first to come to claim you, and we had fought before then. Ever since we had gained our sparks, we were enemies."

Plei frowned, finding an inconsistency in his story.

"But Draetur has one of the newer sparks. He's too young to have an old spark like the one you said you gave me."

Belnair hesitated.

"Did I say that the old spark was the only one I had? I can still Planeswalk, remember?"

That was true. Despite giving up his spark for Plei, he was still able to go from plane to plane. But was it even possible to have two sparks? Could this all be an elaborate bluff like Plei suspected? To what end would he waste the effort?

"Plei." Belnair said after clearing his throat. It seemed he thought it best to move onto a different subject. "If you will consent to stay with me as my daughter, I would ask to use your spark to rid us of our enemies. Either I would help you to train, or you would have to give me back my spark."

Ah! That was what this was about. Plei's suspicious mind became certain of Belnair's treachery. But then, her uncertain mind shook itself. If she had constantly been under attack, Plei would have wanted the power to end it as well. She _did_ want it.

There was a sudden breeze on the plain. Sounds made Plei look down, and she saw the grass turning a unique kind of emerald green. The girl jumped when a growl erupted from Belnair's human form. Heat radiated off of him as he looked behind them. Plei looked as well.

Standing not too far away was a man. He looked human and had a beard covering most of his face, as well as dark brown, earthy eyes. His ranger-like clothes and stance suggested he was not Belnair's friend. In fact, he looked like he could murder the dragon with his gaze.

"How dare you." The man hissed venomously.

Belnair smiled. He seemed to be pleased about something.

"How nice of you to join us." He said, maliciously enjoying the man's pain, of which Plei did not understand. "I thought you couldn't Planeswalk anymore."

"What's-" Plei started.

"This is likely my greatest enemy. He's been tracking you for your spark for many a year. He's probably angry I got to you first."

"How dare you lie to her, you glorified snake!"

The two turned, looking like they were ready to blow each other up. Plei took a step forward, holding out a hand to both of them. They both stopped, Belnair with an ugly look and the other man with surprise.

"Stop! Tell me what is going on! Who are you?"

"I am your-"

"He is an impostor!" Belnair boomed, his voice bigger than his form. Plei took a step away, her arm feeling uncomfortable in his heat.

"Don't lie to her, Belnair!" the man shouted.

Belnair growled, and then fire was racing toward the man in green. Plei was sure the man was dead. She was more preoccupied with getting away from the searing heat that was coming off of Belnair. She squinted her eyes in the heat and didn't see the human form of Belnair. Instead, she saw his dragon form with only a shadow of what Plei knew was human lingering.

There was a disturbance in the inferno. The flames suddenly parted, and Plei saw several small trees that created a solid wall. The trees parted to allow the man through. With a sweeping gesture of the man's hands, the ground around Belnair began tossing and turning. In his rage, the hellkite stomped so hard that the earth cracked. Plei truly began to fear for her life.

The stranger tried to maneuver closer to Plei, but Belnair would not allow it. He moved between them and attacked with fangs and fire. He often drew back with a mouth full of twigs.

Suddenly, the hellkite's whole body spasmed. He turned his long neck to look behind him, where a giant turtle had latched onto his tail. Belnair tried to free his tail by moving it around violently, but the turtle's weight kept it stable, and its grip seemed unbreakable. Slowly, the horned turtle began to try and drag Belnair into the water.

Plei marveled at the strength of the turtle. How could something so comparably small wrestle with a beast so fierce? Then she noticed movement and turned to spot the stranger heading straight toward her. Be he friend or foe, Plei was uncertain. But she would not allow someone she did not know to try and grasp at her.

His hand reached out, a look of desperation on his face. Plei backpedaled, twisting herself to avoid his hand. Looking exasperated, the man took another step forward, to which Plei matched with a step back.

"I do not know you." Plei protested.

There was a booming roar, and the grass was beginning to shrivel. Belnair had seen the man near Plei, and the girl felt that, if it were not for the stranger's presence, everything here would have died. There was a flicker of doubt in Plei.

"Please, little Plei. I will not keep you if you choose not to stay."

There was a great thrashing, and the horned turtle was flipped on its back. Belnair turned, enraged. There was a great noise as he sucked in air. Plei knew moving would prove ineffective, but she took a step back. Belnair could not be her father; what father would torch his daughter to protect her? Now Plei saw only hate in his eyes.

A great wall of vines suddenly grew from the ground, weaving together tightly. There was a loud boom as the fire collided with the wall. Then the stranger extended his hand again.

"He thinks to destroy us both, Plei. Do not be fooled."

Plei hesitated for only a moment. Then she extended her hand and took his. A moment of static energy and a glimpse of the place between later, there was a cool breeze and the sound of waves.

Plei looked around, feeling her guard raise. The man next to him raised his eyebrows.

"The last island I Planeswalked to ended up with me almost dead." Plei explained.

"I can understand. But when you walk to enough planes, you learn that a type of land doesn't necessarily mean a particular event is going to happen."

"So you've walked a lot?"

"Oh, I'm one of the oldest walkers."

Plei looked closer at his face. He looked like a middle-aged man.

"Do you have an old spark?"

"I used to."

Plei went silent. She examined the man more intensely. There was no way he was saying what she thought he was saying, right?

"So… What do you mean?"

"Draetur is this way." The man beckoned as he began walking. "I will explain things."

It didn't take long for the man to realize that the girl wasn't following. He stopped, looking awkwardly at her. Plei stood firmly.

"I've been told a lot of things today. I'm not going with a stranger on assumed trust. Not today. Who are you, and why are you involved in this conflict?"

"We're exposed here. If he follows us, I won't be able to hold him back again."

Plei didn't move. The man sighed.

"You're as stubborn as your mother." He said fondly, and the corners of his eyes crinkled with an honest smile. "Alright, then. I'll share what I know. What questions do you have?"

"Belnair says he's my father. You disagree."

"Yes. He is not your father. He's not old enough to be. Nor has he ever felt the power of the old spark."

"How do you know this?"

"Because I have lived ages longer than him."

"You know the power of the old spark?"

"Yes. But no longer. I gave it away a long time ago to my child, who was born sick."

Plei was quiet again. She did her best to think about this objectively, almost wishing she had no father. The man, however, did not pause long.

"May I hear what Belnair told you?"

Plei paused, but decided she would do it. What harm could come of it? Slowly at first, Plei shared Belnair's words. Now that she thought back on it, there were things that her numb mind had noticed about Belnair, but been unable to analyze truthfully under the circumstances. The stranger listened quietly, nodding his head now and again as his expression grew darker with time. When Plei stopped, there was a silence.

"By what you said," Plei spoke a little quietly, "are you claiming to be my father as well?"

"I do more than claim." The man said, straightening his back so that he was fully 6'7" tall. "Everyone here would swear to the truth of it. To think Belnair would use that against me… No, it is not all that strange."

"So how much was true?" Plei had a feeling it would take a long time for her to get used to the idea of even having a father, much less putting a specific face to it. This man was more believable in this instance than Belnair, however.

"Most of it was real, and he did seem to avoid most lying. You were born to your mother and I sick. So, in desperation, I gave you my spark. Soon after, when I was out looking for a cure for a sickness your mother had caught even before your birth, you two were attacked. Your mother got you away and found protection before I came back, but as long as you were with us, we knew you would be in danger. I'm not happy to say that we handed you off to another woman.

"We had full intentions of taking you back." He said quickly at Plei's expression. "But at the time, we preferred our enemies to chase us instead of you."

"So the woman I've knew all my life as 'Mother'… She's not actually my mom?"

"Correct." He nodded. "Your real mother is still sick and in hiding."

"She's still sick?"

"Yes. Her illness was terminal. After giving my spark to you, my age approached me as well. To help us both, I found some elixir of immortality, but our store has run out."

His voice was heavy and he looked down. It was obvious this pained him, and Plei found herself feeling sorry for him. But there was another thing on Plei's mind. She had (supposedly) just met her father, and both he and her mother were already nearing death? That was completely unfair!

"Pleisorium! Razel!"

Draetur called out, circling from above and lowering himself to land. The wind blew both the human's hair. Plei turned to her father, making a face as Draetur's backstrokes made her hair fly everywhere.

"Razel? _That's_ your name?"

"One of them." He smirked.

"I worried when neither of you showed up. What are you doing here?" Drae said, looking worried.

"Plei left Belnair in a rather confused state." Razel explained.

"What happened?" Draetur's dragonic face looked worried.

"The snake tried to tell Plei that she was _his_ daughter." The man growled, his canines oddly apparent.

"He did _what_?" Drae seemed shocked by the very idea. "I can't believe he would think of such a thing."

"He didn't. Where's Fariel?"

"Ah, her." Draetur's expression darkened. "I confronted her against your orders and found she had never broken her blood contract. As soon as she found Plei had been retrieved, she had left to inform Belnair."

"Where is she now?"

"Gone. We could not manage to suppress her, and she got away. I suspect she met with the death cultist and walked from our last plane."

"Pity. I was hoping to speak with her." Razel's voice was so deadly that Plei felt herself shiver.

Draetur looked around for a couple of moments. He shuffled his wings, apparently nervous about something. Finally, the confusion set about his face as he looked at Razel.

"Why hasn't Belnair followed you?"

"Oh, that's easy. He doesn't think he needs to."

Plei raised a brow at this. Razel had said before that they were too exposed and needed to move. Did that mean he had lied to her before, or had he just manipulated the truth to get her to move? Either way, it bugged her.

"Why is that? Wouldn't it be wiser to try and grab Plei back than to wait for you?"

"No. He believes we'll go back for Plei's substitute mother."

"He has my mum?" Plei said quickly. "Er… pretend mum, I mean."

"Yes. But don't dwell on it. We're going to free everyone in due time."

* * *

A few people were at this hidden camp, including Laurie, Maycoe, and a rather reluctant Tenia. Fariel did not know about this place, so they would be safe. In the meantime, Razel got straight to planning. Plei, on the other hand spent her time updating her companions. They all assured her that Draetur had good reason not to tell her about her parents, but Plei was still a little miffed.

"Tenia. When you chose to join me," Plei said, just remembering something she had pondered over the last two days. She and her companions were allowed their own tent, "you said that I 'would do'. What terms will I have to take care of in exchange for your help?"

Tenia smiled with her fangs, making Maycoe unhappy. Laurie watched the vampire with suspicious eyes.

"If you can get me near Belnair, the terms will take care of themselves." Tenia said pleasantly.

"On that lovely note," Laurie said, sounding disgusted. "I'm going to go to bed."

"Must you always think my mind's constantly on blood?" Tenia sighed dramatically, getting up and following Laurie out of the tent.

Maycoe and Plei sat in silence for a moments, only briefly aware of Laurie shouting 'get away from me, bloodsucker!' Plei's mind wandered off to all the events of the last few days. As it turned out, she was actually pretty tired from everything.

"Plei?" Maycoe said hesitantly, yanking Plei's attention to her. "Is there any room… I mean… Would you mind another person living on your planet?"

Plei was rather perplexed. She hadn't really thought about having other people live there. There had been a hope at one point, but her planet inevitably became her safe haven; a place where no one could get in. And as long as she never left, she would be safe. This was no more, of course. Plei had left her home what seemed like ages ago, so every Planeswalker was now perfectly able to go there now. Had anyone found it yet, she wondered?

"I don't think I would mind." Plei said slowly. "In fact, it might be a nice alternate to constant loneliness."

"Are you sure?"

Plei nodded, curious. Maycoe was looking at her with more uncertainty than ever before.

"That is good." The Kor woman said finally. "Although, there is something you should know before we go back there."

Plei raised an interested brow.

"I told you I had lost myself in the woods. The reason I was lost was because I had performed treachery. There was a battle, and I helped to dispatch my own people." Her voice was only a whisper now, but Plei could hear her perfectly. "The people I fought for lost, and what was left of us were chased. I tried to lose my enemies in the forest, but got myself lost. The real reason why I attacked you was because I thought you were one of my pursuers."

* * *

Laurie worried more and more about her sister by the day. Plei felt a powerful urge to find her 'fake' mother. Even if they weren't related by blood, she was the woman who cared for Plei for most of her life. Still, Plei's father insisted they should stay for a few more days. Plei could barely handle one.

The girl did learn, though. However impatient she was, Plei spared her father some time, and he filled it with information. Plei learned more magic and also acquired tips for changing her appearance and such. She found a spell could be rebuked just as soon as it was cast, and that she should always expect something to go wrong.

However, with good magic knowledge came information about Plei's family as well. Her mother was a Planeswalker as well, but one of the newer ones. Razel befriended another Planeswalker and was given his spark during a battle, allowing him to search for Plei once she left her surrogate mother, and also allowing him to search for more elixir of life. Also, if Plei's father did not find the elixir, he would not last beyond a year.

Belnair had long been an enemy of Draetur's, though Razel had never inquired into their exact relationship. Razel had become a target of Belnair's because Belnair wanted more power than his own spark gave him. Draetur had joined into the battle when he found out Belnair's intentions. Both Razel and his drake companion planned on taking revenge, Razel with his trusted sword.

* * *

The night was dark and quiet. It was only two days after Plei and Razel had come to the hidden camp, and everyone was asleep. The tent flap opened quietly, spilling moonlight into the room momentarily. Plei's form was highlighted briefly, looking a little too pale in the moonlight, before the flap was dropped, and then her shadowed form walked forward to the small altar at the back. On the altar was Razel's sword.

It was beautiful, and was spoken of as the symbol of Razel's force's purpose. All the Kor, vampires, elves, and such, converged on this artifact. A brown handle melded into a golden guard, upon which was a giant blue gem. The grey, sharp, smooth blade ended in a small cap of gold. It was magnificent; one could feel the power coming off of it.

Plei hesitated, and then reached for her father's blade. She wrapped her hand around the handle, a nasty glint in her eyes.

* * *

Belnair's camp was frantic. High above them, there was a Pegasus. Not only that, but there was someone on top of the Pegasus, and they had a rather large sword strapped on their back.

Belnair's hideout was known to few; it was in a little-known plane and they had hidden in an isolated set of mountains. There was a valley in one of the largest mountains, a cooled, thick crust of volcanic rock where all of the red minions gathered. Not only had the intruder found them here, but they did not seem to be of red mana. Belnair condemned all who were not of red mana.

The camp members had tried to deal with the rider on their own, but they had proven difficult. Fireballs could only reach so far, and the Pegasus could maneuver away easily. Now there was a small crowd gathered; all of them were gazing up at the rider.

There was a rumbling, and everyone became aware that Belnair had woken from his nap. His huge form rose from an equally large cave, and his neck quickly angled his head toward the sky. He found what his minions were looking for, and his eyes narrowed.

"Come down, gnat." Belnair said. "Or I shall burn you out of the sky."

The rider's steed wheeled around, allowing itself enough room to come in for a steady landing. Lightly, gracefully, the stormfront Pegasus came down for landing, touching down delicately with its hooves. The winged beast approached Belnair slowly. Now and again, it would toss its head in nervousness.

A fireball streaked from the crowd, but it only met with a wall of white light. The crowd murmured. They disliked those of white mana most of all.

"You are either very foolish or very brave, rider. Perhaps both, even." Belnair's voice boomed. He took satisfaction in the Pegasus' jump. He figured that, since it was so nervous, its rider would be nervous as well. They should be.

"Perhaps I just had something to do. Your place isn't much for inviting guests." The rider said pleasantly.

Belnair frowned for a moment. That voice sounded very familiar, so he examined the female in front of him. She had very long, light brown hair and type of eyes that made one think of moss or newly grown grass. Sitting, she was decidedly tall, bearing what seemed to be an easy confidence. Her facial features reminded Belnair of a rather annoying woman, of whose death he had participated in. But there was no way this was Razel's wife.

"Pleisorium?" Belnair said with surprise. "Is that you beneath those new features?"

"Not so new." Plei shrugged.

"What are you doing here?" Belnair said invitingly. His followers looked perplexed. "Did you escape from Draetur and his bunch?"

"They didn't want me to come here."

"To hell with them all. Who are they to tell you what to do?"

"They thought I would do something stupid." Plei said, a little tiredly.

"We both know you haven't, don't we?"

"No. Actually, I am definitely here to do something stupid."

Plei lifted a hand and grasped the handle of her sword. What was drawn out was her father's sword of vengeance. The weighted blade was held firmly in the girl's hand, although some form of distress was showing on her face.

"My, my, what's this?" a silky voice said. He moved through a parting crowd of disgusted red mages. "A gift to her long lost father? Or a decree of war to the villain of her life?"

"Coverru. What are you doing here?" Belnair asked.

"It is neither." Plei addressed Coverru while keeping her eyes locked on Belnair. "This single battle won't be worthy enough to be called war. Belnair's head will fly, and then this will all be over."

"Surely you jest." Belnair tried to sound disbelieving, but it came out as angry instead.

"I may be stubborn and naïve," Plei said, taking a handful of the feather-like mane of her Pegasus, "but I do not waste my energy on lying."

"You cannot win alone." Belnair growled.

"If you die, my real father's life won't be shorter than it already is. I won't let you destroy the rest of my life."

"I see." Belnair said with a nasty look on his dragonic features. "In that case, take care of her, Coverru."

Belnair turned from Plei with the air of someone who was miffed and returned to his cave. Coverru, having been given his orders, was quite still. Plei turned to observe him when she saw Belnair's disinterest. After a couple of moments, the man sighed and locked his gaze on Plei.

"Before we get on with this, I would like to ask you a question, Pleisorium."

Plei was perplexed by the man's sudden seriousness and change in tone.

"Ask your question." She said finally.

"If one master says 'kill' and the other says 'protect', which one would you follow?"

"Are you saying you dabble on both sides?" said a dangerous voice.

Plei turned to see Fariel. She was still beautiful and glowing, but she had a rather aggressive facial expression. Her hair still fell down in wavy lengths and her armor still shone, but her eyes were possessed with a fiery energy. If the crowd had disliked Coverru as he walked among them, they hated Fariel.

Plei looked back at Coverru to find he was still looking at her and ignoring Fariel.

"I guess I would follow the leader I respected most." Plei said finally.

"I see…"

"Coverru, you cannot even be thinking of-"

"Oh, but why not?" Coverru said with a nasty grin. "You did, didn't you? That's why Belnair doesn't trust you. He had to regain your wavring allegiance with threats."

Fariel's expression grew nasty.

"If you turn against our one, true master, I shall dispose of you now!"

Fariel moved her hands about, and there was a loud screech as the angel glowed darkly. At first, Plei searched for the effect of whatever sorcery Fariel was performing. But then, it became quickly apparent that she was summoning something. The crowd parted widely with frightening swiftness. Between the two sides walked a giant scorpion, its shiny black exoskeleton painted with red and its dangerous tail arched over its back. Plei felt fear as she realized she was barely as big as its stinger.

"If you will not do his bidding," Fariel said with amazing clarity, "then I and the rest of Belnair's followers will take you both on."

**Cards Used: Horned Turtle, Sword of Vengeance, Mountain (Rob Alexander), Stormfront Pegasus, Giant Scorpion**

**Shieb: A couple of twists in this one, I think. I do hope you enjoy this. Depending on your beliefs about Fariel, you might have seen this coming, but there was little reason to think that Coverru would actually think of helping Plei. Anyways, this chapter brings up questions, and I hope to eventually answer them. At least, some of them. In the next chapter, the two forces finally clash.  
**


	13. Finally, the Beginning

All of those clothed in red did not give Fariel's announcement much recognition. Still, they knew that Coverru was a traitor and that Plei was now useless. Both had to die by Belnair's laws, and each and every one of them were happy to comply.

Coverru's laughter and applause sounded above the shifting of readying warriors.

"So nice of you to assume so quickly that I toss aside Belnair's name." he said mockingly. "But it's just as well. He had his uses in my learning, but his knowledge is so limited, you see. Besides, I never really enjoyed working under a maggot who fed off the Eldrazi's destruction."

There were many hisses in the crowd. Coverru seemed to enjoy the disapproval and turned to Plei.

"Well, that makes us unlikely allies, doesn't it?" he said loftily.

"We'll see." Plei smirked.

Admittedly, Plei wasn't sure what exactly triggered it, but everything was suddenly plunged into the chaos of battle. Fire flew from everywhere, and lightning fell from the sky. Plei used her shield to ward off most energy-based attacks while Fariel sent her scorpion against Coverru.

Coverru was frustratingly quick. He would avoid the scorpion, instead allowing it to skewer his enemies. When Belnair's followers died, the death cultist performed magic while he dodged the scorpion's many legs and raised their corpses from the floor. More and more zombies began crowding around the armored beast, clumsily throwing their magic at it.

"Have you no skill of your own?" Fariel shouted. "Are you so weak that you must use other's power?"

"No." Coverru said, now much closer to Fariel than he was a moment ago. "But it's easier to take care of such an armored creature if you dispose of its master."

"Don't be so certain." Fariel drew herself up, drawing her sword from her hip. "I am quite skilled at combat, and could easily give swine like you trouble."

"If I am swine, I shudder to think what you are."

Plei did not have things so well planned out as Coverru seemed to. While he set up his enemy for a face-to-face confrontation, Plei was limited to focusing on many enemies at once. Her ride took care of the enemies in front and behind, lashing out with its hooves. Plei focused on her sides, swinging her blade with as much control as she could have. The sword sung as it carved through the air, filling whatever silence was left with an eerie, high-pitched humming.

Red-garbed mages swarmed around her. Most were no danger, their spells stopped by Plei's barrier. But other men pulled out swords, and a particular person brandished a spear with three blades sticking out at its end. The swordsmen were easy enough to deal with, and Plei parried their blows and turned aside the blades that tried to strike at the grey Pegasus. When the spearman came in, Plei became preoccupied with the reach of the spear while having no time to spare for people trying to hack at her ride's ribs, though she certainly tried.

Despite how busy Plei was with her opponents, she noticed immediately when the ground shook and her Pegasus' footing became unsteady. With a strong kick, the girl sent her steed into the air. More fire, now much less than the beginning of the battle, tried to reach them, but failed.

Sword still in hand to be safe, Plei switched tactics. She focused, actively thinking about the tips her father shared with her. The ground rumbled, which was at first mistaken as an act of some earth-specific red mages. Many were surprised as new plants, which they had previously stepped on, sprouted beneath their feet and violently stretched to the sky. There was a silence for a moment, in which a single scoff was heard. Then the chaos peaked as the giant vines thrashed, sweeping aside and throwing many red-garbed individuals.

Plei watched quietly from above and massaged a stitch in her side. This would not have taken so much out of her if she had not-

"Ungrateful child!" Fariel screeched as she came down upon Plei. The girl barely had enough time to raise her sword and defend against a blow that made her arms threaten to collapse.

Plei looked around in the second that Fariel pulled back and saw Coverru unconscious.

"Did you think he would really help you?" Fariel spat, twirling her sword so that it sang a siren's song. "No, you're all alone, my dear."

Plei had grim features for a moment. Then her lips twitched. With a sudden explosion of laughter, the girl leaned over, grasping the mane of the Pegasus firmly so that she would not fall off.

"You really think I'm alone?" Plei said loudly.

Down in his cave, Belnair shifted. He lifted his head and turned it so that his amber eyes, narrowed with displeasure, could view the world outside. All of those on the ground turned their faces up to view the angel and rider above. He could see Plei's genuine amusement and Fariel's hesitation. Slowly, he made to get up as realization hit him and Fariel scoffed, choosing disbelief over caution.

"I can't believe you and your dear father planned this. As if he would let you take the brunt of our attack like this. No, you snuck out on your own." Fariel was saying.

Belnair exited his cave, counting on his minions to get out from under his claws… or not. He looked at Plei and growled, which caught her attention for a second. Fariel, taking the moment, bound forward with a stroke of her wings. The two's swords came together in a beautiful flash of gold and silver light. Belnair looked away from the dancing sparks and eyed the surrounding area instead, waiting for something. He took a step forward and found his foot made the earth crumble. Surprised, he took a step back and watched as more earth crumbled, creating a deep crevasse.

The red mages that were left looked about in confusion. Some were lost in the collapse, but others quickly made their way away. The entire crowd, save for Fariel and Plei, began to concentrate as they heard a strange noise. The gurgling and crashing became apparent when a flood of water overcame the edge of the crevasse. Some mages moved earth to stop its spreading. It seemed content to stop, but the water turned out to be harmless; there was something in the small, deep body of water that soon became a concern.

From the depths emerged a giant sea serpent. Its whole length of body was lost in the dark waters, but its face and the body immediately after were visible. Mean orange eyes glanced around briefly before its sharp teeth began to seek bodies among the crowd. Its skin was thick and resistant to fire, so Belnair lost more followers before his annoyance built, and he decided to take care of the problem. Before the hellkite could cut up the sea serpent, though, he heard the battle cry of an old enemy.

Belnair didn't even turn his head to look. He swerved his body out of the way of Draetur, who tried to dive-bomb him. Then the dragon swept his tail, which bashed into both Draetur and the serpent he had been backstroking to avoid. Both made noises of protest.

"You always did enjoy that move." Belnair boomed. "But it's getting a little old, don't you think?"

Up above, Plei and Fariel had noticed the turmoil below. But Plei couldn't spare a moment. Fariel's onslaughts were constant and harsh, not only making it difficult for Plei to guard, but making her arms shake and slow to strike.

"Interesting scene below, no?" Fariel said leisurely, striking upwards with her sword. "But Belnair will easily take care of Draetur and his serpent."

Plei could not spare time to respond, and so furrowed her brow in more concentration. Fariel laughed as she knocked aside a quick jab from Plei's sword.

"Is that what you call an attack? You are hardly a master at swordsmanship, my dear. Perhaps you should have brought more than just that weak lizard with you."

Plei kicked the Pegasus' side and made it turn to gallop away. Fariel followed, weaving above and below both rider and steed.

"You don't look around much, do you?" Plei gasped. She could not believe how out of breath she was.

Fariel took the moment to glance down. Belnair was fending off both the serpent and Draetur. Small, red-garbed mages were trying to assist their master, although their attempts only served to annoy such great powers. Belnair did not mind sweeping aside the bothersome minions when they caused him too much distraction.

Also joining the fight were a few other beings. Fariel recognized the women who accompanied Plei in and out of Belnair's camp before. There was a woman whose fire outdid all the rookie flame mages, but a more seasoned veteran had caught her in battle, and the two were given a wide berth.

The Kor woman ran ahead of the vampire, quickly dispatching troublesome contenders with her leather-bound hooks and nimbly maneuvering out of the way of most attacks. She was fierce, but as she glanced up to worry over Plei, she became quickly preoccupied with a man who was able to come in close. Sweeping past her, the vampire abandoned the Kor once she was not useful for clearing a path. The vampire headed straight for Belnair and aided Draetur in aggravating him.

These things were not so strange, and Fariel would have turned back to Plei and scoffed, were it not for noticing a bright, spreading green. The effect was subtle from so up high, but as Plei and Fariel circled the valley in the mountain, more green spread. It was grass, Fariel realized, and it was quickly spreading from the edge of the water, using the liquid to give it life. The angel warrior knew this to be a manifestation of Razel's boundless power, but the greenery had not grown in his presence that fast since… No, there was no chance that had happened again. But there was no denying that Razel was here.

"I wonder how angry with me he'd get." Fariel said suddenly with a nasty grin, soaring above the grey Pegasus, "if I killed you just as he got here."

"Pretty pissed, I would imagine. He already wanted to talk with you about your betrayal. Except, from the way he said it, I think me meant 'kill' or 'torture'." Plei said boldly. She tightened her grip on her father's blade.

Fariel's face twisted into an ugly expression. She made a quick stroke with her wings and dove forward, swinging her sword. Plei brought up her own to guard, and her arms were pushed back before she could push forward again and throw Fariel off.

"That will only happen if he can catch me!" Fariel spat.

"Oh, I don't think you'll have to worry about that." Plei said, pointing as the mountain's already unsteady earth shook.

Both combatants paused again. Fariel looked and saw that the grass was not only spreading from the water, but now it was also growing from a point over the edge of the mountain. Belnair had raised his head and spread his flame to counter the greenery, but now both he and his enemies were paused, looking at the source of the shaking.

There seemed to be a hesitation, and then a giant thing made itself known as it rose slowly into view. It looked to be made of bark, with giant horns sprouting from the top of its head. There was a great creaking as the wood shifted and protested its movement. Birds in their nests scattered as its four arms got too close, and the one hand that was not used to support its enormous form had a familiar figure standing on it. The summoned creature, its entire form seeming to emerge out of the ground, stopped climbing, instead swaying and creaking ominously above the smaller creatures.

The red mages below seemed to have given up. There was no way they could combat something that dwarfed Belnair. But their master was livid. He had denied this when he saw things growing, but now the truth was obvious to him.

"No! No!" He bellowed- screamed, really. The heat of his breath was scorching the ground beneath him. "You can't! You would never sacrifice your daughter's life to defeat _me_!"

"I didn't have a choice." Razel shouted savagely from his perch.

Fariel did not seem to understand what was going on. She hovered up in the air, abandoning her pursuit of Plei and looking rather alarmed. She looked at Belnair and spoke pleadingly.

"What is it? What could alarm you so much?"

"You know, for a man who was so close to dying, my father looks rather lively." Plei offered, trying to sound kind and instead managing to sound snide.

"And you…" Fariel said slowly, watching Plei with suspicion, "seem to be in deteriorating health."

Then the light turned on in Fariel's head. But Belnair's rage had broken, and he roared his ferocity. The red hellkite was furious, and now the grass was retreating from his form, a sea of brown spreading from him as green spread from Razel.

"You want the old spark so bad." Razel said, looking at Belnair. "But even you know you cannot gain such power from me. It would have been easy to beat my daughter into submission or to convince her to give you the spark, but both tasks are now unobtainable."

"Hey." Plei mumbled, still flying around on her Pegasus.

"This is not possible!" Belnair raged. "You would not sacrifice your daughter!"

"Didn't you hear me? I didn't." Razel frowned, his voice on the edge of calm but perfectly audible.

"We'll see if your theories hold." Belnair spat.

The dragon turned to glare at Plei, who had an ominous feeling that seemed to twist her stomach in on itself. A quick nudge of the Pegasus' sides made the pair dive down just in time to avoid a pillar of fire. The momentary stasis was gone, and while Belnair pursued revenge by trying to kill Plei, Draetur and Razel both moved to stop him. Drae was now closer to Belnair, so he rushed forward with his serpent. Belnair turned sharply and bit fiercely into the serpent's neck while swiping his tail through the air and smacking Drae to the ground.

Razel directed his creature to grab at and smash Belnair. But the dragon displayed a sudden maneuverability by launching himself into the air and coming dangerously close to Plei. Another giant, creaking hand came sweeping through the air. The wind buffeted the storm Pegasus, forcing it and its rider farther from the conflict.

Plei clung desperately to her Pegasus. Even though it had only been a couple of hours since she handed over her spark, she could already feel her health degrading. The sudden lack of power had already made her shaky and uncertain. Whatever sickness she was born with was also taking hold, causing difficulty in breathing. The combination of effects was getting to her, and Plei didn't know if she would be able to do anything if Belnair did get to her. Maintaining the summoning of this stormfront Pegasus was taking up all of the strength she had left already.

Belnair opened his maw and let destructive fire collide with Gaea's creation. There was a roar that sounded something like the creaking of a falling tree. Two arms waved through the flames, trying to put them out, while Belnair turned to Plei. The look in his eyes scared her. It was like grim determination, but with a glint of desperation.

"Killing you will likely be the last blow I will ever deal to him." He said. "Too bad I won't live to see your dear mother die after all the trouble I went through to get her sick in the first place."

For the second time in a few days, everything went silent for Plei. She felt her thoughts and emotions freeze, and became unaware of her body and the sounds around her. And then, like the quiet before the storm, everything rushed back with a new intensity. Plei felt uncontrolled rage as a sound like rushing, thunderous waves filled her ears. How dare he touch her mother- either of them!

"If you want the spark so bad," Razel announced, unheard by Plei. His creature seemed only to be smoldering now, though its creaking seemed threatening, "why don't I just give it to you?"

Belnair's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"What's the catch?"

"There's no catch."

Belnair did not look convinced, and his eyes slid over to Plei, whose rage was seeping into her features.

"I give you the spark, and you let me and my family walk away."

The dragon considered this for a moment. He hated both of these two; they had both caused him a lot of grief. On the other hand, everything he wanted could be obtained with the old spark.

"Then give it to me." Belnair said finally, turning to Razel.

"Let my daughter and Drae-" Razel started, but he was never allowed to finish his intentions.

"Absolutely not." Belnair said stubbornly. "Without them, there's no reason for you to honor this agreement."

"And with them here, you would just as soon turn on them as me."

"Hurry up." Belnair growled threateningly, glaring.

Razel was quiet for a moment, his own glare contesting Belnair's. Then, with a sigh, he nodded his head. With a motion to his summoned creature, the wooden being lowered Razel to the ground, where he suddenly seemed much smaller. The few red mages who were left moved away from him; they were not foolish enough to mistake him for a weak man.

"I, the original holder of this spark, hereby hand it over to Belnair, tyrant of the red mana."

He sounded like he was just making up something to make it sound formal. There was a moment of silence in which Razel briefly closed his eyes. And then Belnair was suddenly roaring with surprise.

Energy was flooding all of his senses. No matter how hard he tried, he was only aware of himself and the burning energy that was flowing into him. Some part of him knew this was not all of the energy and power that would be supplied to him. That same part also recognized that, in a few hundred years, he would be driven insane by this energy.

"Finally." Hissed a cool, feminine voice that leaped onto Belnair's frame and stuck it's fangs into him. He tried to brush the tick off, but found it difficult to tell where anything was in this burning energy.

Then, suddenly, something felt horribly dangerous.

"You'd better give that spark away to mend the rends in Dominaria." Said a terrible voice suddenly, breaking into Belnair's self-possessed, dark world. "Otherwise, it'll disappear when I _kill_ you!"

Belnair stayed blind to the colors of the world around him, but he could sense the energies. He could tell that there were three beings who were connected to the power of this spark. Its enormous power was draining from the other two, but a different kind of energy was welling up in the weakest of them. Shock went through Belnair as he realized Plei's own spark had activated. What were the odds? Not only that, but in the initial surge of energy of an awakening spark, her power outstripped his own, despite the pooling power of his new spark.

There was a shuddering roar and the sound of many falling trees. Belnair looked around in the blackness and found a giant entity wreathed in green light, due to his new senses. There was no time to dodge its blow. Its fist collided with his head in an earth-shattering blow. And then there was no light.

Plei huffed and puffed and shook. As the initial energy of her spark left her, Plei felt even weaker than before, and the world left her for a second. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she was falling. Apparently, she did not have enough energy to keep the Pegasus here.

"Plei!" the roar sounded muffled. And then her back hit something hard, and it took a moment for her to breath again. When the girl took the effort to look around, she found she was on Draetur's back. Tiredly, he glided down to what ground was left.

"That's the first time you called me Plei." The girl said faintly.

"What?" Drae folded his wings and turned his head just enough to see the girl.

"You've always called me by my full name instead of using my nickname."

"Oh." Draetur said weakly.

Razel's steps became apparent as his feet made noise on the dead grass. Behind him was the creature he had summoned. It lay on the ground, plants slowly sprouting from its bark.

"If you _ever_ pull a stunt like that again," he started, glaring furiously at Plei.

"I'm sorry." Plei said quickly, although she could barely catch the breath to say those two words. "I was so angry. He was involved in my real mother's illness, and then my own spark, woke up, and I just wanted to massacre him-"

"I'm not angry at you for that." He waved his hand to the side dismissively. "He would have killed us if you hadn't smashed his skull. I'm talking about giving me my spark back while _I was sleeping_!" Razel exclaimed at the end.

"You wouldn't have taken it otherwise!" Plei protested.

"I wouldn't have needed to!"

"You old men are too slow!" Plei said, impatient with her father's scolding.

"It's called patience, and it obviously comes with age." Razel's voice rose to a volume beyond his daughter's.

"It's not patience! It might even be cowardice!"

"Cowardice? In the time you stayed, how much did you learn, how much stronger did you get? If you had stayed longer, you could have taken Belnair out without help."

By now, Razel and Plei's allies had gathered, drawn slowly by their loud voices. Laurie was still looking around to massacre someone, but Maycoe seemed intent on keeping the woman in line, though for what reason was unknown. Tenia looked satisfied, which disturbed the non-vampiric allies around her. She licked her lips now and again, a look on her face like that of sweet remembrance.

"While my surrogate mother rots in a cell and you slowly die?"

"Speaking of which." Razel muttered. He turned his attention to the last stragglers of Belnair's minions, who were quietly trying to disappear.

"You!" Razel said fiercely, pointing at a mage. The mage looked, his expression becoming that of fear, and ran. Razel tossed his hand in the air and vines grew from the ground, grabbing the retreating mage and pulling him back to their master. "Where is her mother? Is she with the rest of your hostages?"

Plei looked at Razel- glared, really.

"I thought she was a pretend mother." Plei said coldly.

"Don't start with me on this." The man growled.

"Why not? You're the one who handed me off."

"And it has worked marvels and left me virtually care free." Sarcasm was dripping from his voice.

"Children, please." Draetur interrupted as forcefully as he could in his current state. "It's sweet that you tragically separated family members are enjoying some bonding, but I would rather we go home in a quick and orderly fashion."

"Most of us here need rest, and I'm sure these aren't all of Belnair's allies- or the strongest." Maycoe commented reasonably.

Plei and her father looked at Draetur, and then considered each other. Then, with huffs that were to the effect of 'ok, fine', the two confirmed they would settle down for now.

"Now," Razel said lightly, turning back to the struggling red mage. "Where is her _surrogate_ mother?"

**Cards Used: Harbor Serpent, Gaea's Revenge**

**Shieb: If you couldn't tell, this is the first two cards of this chapter. When what I want to write is too long, I end up having to split chapters (like chapter 7). But these two chapters weren't really closely related, so I decided to keep them under different titles. Anyways, the next chapter is the last when concerning the storyline. Now that the battle's over, you might be interested in knowing what kind of life Plei decides to take.  
**


	14. Of the End

"No!"

A human knight banged his fist upon the ground, glaring angrily around him. The other species that were gathered look back with a mixture of annoyance and impatience. His endeavor would have been useless if the humans didn't take up a large chunk of the population in these meetings.

"We will not push our good people closer to the mountain. There are things that are cursed and evil up there."

He looked darkly toward the mountain, whose volcanic heat made its form shimmer ominously over them. A centaur stomped furiously. She and another advocate for the centaurs seemed dissatisfied with the knight's protest.

"So then claim less land! Your kind is pushing into our forests. If you destroy another creature's home, we will turn violent to defend our territory." She exclaimed.

"The land is neither yours nor theirs." A Kor man said kindly. "We all came here strangers, and we are still strangers." He turned to the humans, speaking in a concerned tone. "Have you found a way to identify the plants which are poisoning your people?"

"No." Said a grizzled man. "What is good for one person kills another, and even fruits we recognize from our old homes will turn upon us."

"It is another Zendikar." A vampire said from the shadow of a tree. She and her fellow advocate looked irritable in the sun. "The land itself is turning upon us."

"It is true." Another centaur said, this one the male. "The trees whisper distaste of our presence, and distrust. They are waiting for someone, but it is not us."

"Your centaur mysticism isn't needed." A Merfolk, staying close to a nearby deep stream, spoke up. "Even our waters rebel against us occasionally, but what choices are bestowed to us?"

"The man is right." An Elvin lady now spoke up elegantly. "Much as some of us would like to go home, we are all incapable of returning. We have little choice but to settle here."

"But we do not have enough land!" The first knight spoke up again. "How are we all supposed to settle in a new way of life if we cannot all fit properly on this one continent?"

"Perhaps if you only took what land you needed…" A centaur began angrily, but her shouts were overridden with the complaints of the other races at the meeting.

It had been nary a month, and all of the people who had arrived on this strange new planet were all perplexed. Just when everything seemed vastly different, each race would find a plant, animal, or landmark that distinctly reminded them of home. The random wanderers found people of the same world, or at least of their own kind, and quickly formed groups. In order to survive, they began forging settlements and claiming land to work on and herd animals.

But the groups quickly came to conflict with each other. Thus emerged the frequent meetings they had, which were usually spent arguing over territory and discussing courses of action against the goblins, which had taken a strong hold of the mountain. It wasn't as if the rest of them cared- none of them liked the mountain. It was only that the goblins descended frequently as raiding parties.

This meeting was no different from others. There was always only a moment of semi-peaceful tension. Then it was broken with much quarreling over territories, at the end of which both sides would compromise for a week. The next week, they would have another meeting, allowing even more arguing.

However, this time something different than the setting sun interrupted them. The elves and centaurs suddenly lost interest in the argument, much to the fury of the quarrelling humans. Some druids amongst the other species noticed something as well, and all who were aware began to search around for the cause.

The arguers grew silent, realizing that something had happened. Those who could not sense it waited impatiently. Finally, one centaur turned to another.

"It's here." She said.

"What's here?" The male vampire asked irritably.

"Whatever the planet was waiting for." An elf replied.

The male Kor raised a pale eyebrow while a human scoffed.

"How can you tell?" The Kor inquired curiously.

"Maybe if you listened once in a while, you'd find out." A young centaur said heatedly, trying to make himself more known. The grown advocates glared at him, warning him silently. Both Kor eyed the centaur yearling dangerously.

"I'd watch my tongue if I were you, boy." The female said icily. "My kind aren't even impeding on your territory."

"_Their_ territory?" The knight interrupted loudly.

The room exploded into argument again. Unbeknownst to those involved, a Kor and a human woman entered at the edge of the gathering. A centaur female, vampire male, and a single silent human noticed the female pair. The two stood there a moment, surveying the scene, the human with a sort of disappointment. Finally, the Kor woman approached the male Kor advocate. There was a brief conversation between the two, and then the male Kor stepped forward in the crowd.

"Excuse me. If you would all care to stop bickering, we have a couple of guests."

The irritable races turned to the Kor, and then looked at the two women who were waiting patiently.

"Who're you?" One of the humans said.

"My name is Pleisorium." She stepped forward. "And this is Maycoe. Really, I'm more interested in what you all are doing here."

There was the slightest touch of possessiveness in her voice, and it caught many's attention. For a few, there was just curiosity, but the more territory-possessive ones took it up as a challenge.

"What do you mean?" The Elvin lady spoke somewhat gently, as if Plei would destroy the momentary quiet.

"Help me understand why all of you races are standing here and arguing over something that is not yours."

"Excuse me?" The vampire male raised a brow, sensing something interesting.

Plei looked at him, curious.

"I know a vampire. I didn't think they were interested in bickering."

"I'm not. See how I'm standing apart, away from the lunatics?"

"You certainly have the same sense of humor as her. Would you be interested in islands?"

"Excuse me?"

"There are some lovely, dark islands in the extreme south. I think it'd be better for you than all these sunny continents."

"…I was actually hoping there would be something like that here."

"But how would you know that? I'm sorry, who are you again?" The knight spoke up.

"Pleisorium, or Plei, if you'd prefer."

"She is the shaper of this plane." Maycoe supplied.

"Shaper?"

"Plane?"

There were many murmurs amongst the advocates. Now a centaur stepped forward, eyeing Plei with suspicion. No one else seemed to want to confront the woman who spoke strange words.

"You are the one this planet has waited for."

"Correct."

"And it is because you have 'shaped' it."

"Also correct."

"So this is your home?"

"I consider this plane mine in all aspects. Home, friend, enemy, grave…" She admitted sheepishly.

A human scoffed.

"You have _'shaped'_ this plane? Even for the greatest mage, that is not possible."

"It is possible for a Planeswalker." Maycoe looked at the man with a withered expression.

"Planeswalker? Does such a thing actually exist?" the merman inquired.

"I heard they were but mere myth." The vampire woman drawled.

"They're not." Plei shook her head. "My family is living proof."

"What does it matter?" The Kor male said, looking imploringly at Plei. "Can you take us home, or are you unable to return us all to where we came from?"

"I could get you all home… in time…"

"But… I sense something more to your statement." The centaur female stated, curious.

"Well…" Plei looked down, considering her words. Then she looked up to speak. "Your coming here is my fault. As this plane was shaped, I offered an invitation to all species and all planes to come here and make a peaceful life for themselves."

"You're the reason we're all stuck here?" A man said angrily.

"Did you hear her before? She can take us back if we wish." The Elvin woman interrupted.

The arguments began to grow, but Maycoe stepped forth and raised her voice, and then they grew quiet.

"I was likely the first to be brought to this plane." She said. "Where I left had become dark and full of petty rivalries, much like the ones you are wasting your time on now. I cannot say that I would rather stay where I had left. I cannot say that I don't want to stay here and create a new life for myself. How many of you truly believe that you would rather go back home than stay here and see what you could make?"

The crowd was silent, struck by the idea.

"I'm not saying that you can't leave. Those who wish may, but I'm offering a chance for you all to stay." Plei said gently.

"You would let us?" The centaur woman said, surprised.

"But there is no room." The vampire woman whined sarcastically.

"This continent is where I first came. Therefore, this is where you all came to. I believe there are at least four free continents, not to mention many islands. There is plenty of room."

"That is if everyone will stay behind their territory lines." The knight growled, looking pointedly at the centaurs. The other humans behind him did not seem to be as aggressive about this anymore, though.

"Nothing here is _your_ territory." Plei said firmly. "This planet is mine, and her lands are not to be argued over. You, sir, are used to caring for a fully fledged castle and kingdom, but you have many less people than the land you claim could sustain."

The knight looked surly. Behind him, the other humans began talking, and there was much nodding and consideration. The other races took the moment to discuss things among themselves. Reactions seemed mixed, and Plei found amusement in the vampire's impatience.

"The decision should be an individual one." Plei announced finally. "I will give you all two weeks to decide and make it to me in mass. I will be at the Mother Tree in the center of the forest."

"Mother Tree?" A merfolk asked curiously.

"It is a large tree, which was also the center of the change in this plane." Plei answered.

"We know this tree." An elf said. "It denies us passage and bears weapons against those who try and force entry."

"You were… strange to this planet." Plei explained. "You came as I asked, but I was not here to accept you to her soil and waters. Therefore, you were treated as uninvited strangers- enemies, even. I apologize for any problems this may have caused. Concerning herself, she can be very vengeful and protective."

"Your planet is what poisoned our people?" A human man frowned.

"I am sorry. By the time I realized my mistake, I was being detained."

"Detained?" The Elvin lady quirked an elegant brow.

"My father insisted I be given thorough training before I went anywhere else or did anything. I apologize for the harm it may have caused, and I'm sure he would too, if he were here."

"Can we please stick to business?" The vampire male sighed. "So all who certainly wish to return home should come to the Mother Tree in two weeks, and you will do all that you can. What about the others? Will you help the rest of us colonize?"

"Yes. Being the shaper, I know everything about this planet. I can show you all to islands, continents, and even clean waters."

"Then we should go home." The merman sighed. "We have argued enough today, and we have things that our entire people must think about."

"You dry out quick." The centaur yearling said, to a few sharp glances.

* * *

"Plei. Plei!"

There was a dull thud right next to Plei's ear, and she spun quickly out of her bed, fighting her blanket away from her feet so that she could move fast. As it so happens, she didn't need to. Hanging from the top of the ceiling that the Mother Tree created was Maycoe. She was frowning as she retrieved rope and hook.

"Hey! You could have actually hit me!" Plei protested, looking around for some form of proper clothing that could cover her undergarments.

"As if." Maycoe scoffed. "We got trouble in the northern forests. The populace says that there's timbermaw larva in one of the larger trees, and they fear it'll spread to other areas. As it is, they're too close to the village."

"Timbermaw larva?"

"Yeah. From what was in the letter, they're nasty pieces of work. Why'd you have to invite all the dangerous creatures as well?"

"Good cannot come without bad."

"You're just saying that to cover up your inability to focus."

Maycoe dropped from the roof as Plei put on and closed up a jacket.

"Anyways, they say they would love quick help, as the larvae are probably ready to hatch. I suggest you take a kitesail."

"I am way ahead of you."

Maycoe raised a brow.

"Weren't you sleeping just a moment ago?"

"The forest… Is this the settlement with Kithkin, humans, and-" Plei proceeded to climb up the roots, hopping from one curve to another so that she could get to the landing above.

"Some elves, yes. Centaurs are also close by, and they've shown their concern."

"Yeah, yeah. Everybody's got a problem they don't know how to fix."

"I thought you'd enjoy this." Maycoe quirked another brow, although Plei didn't see it.

"I do. But I wish they'd all realize that I'm only human, no matter whether I'm a Planeswalker or not. Did you know that there are some people calling together a religion based on me?"

"One of the humans' plains?"

"Yeah."

"I thought so." Maycoe said snidely.

"Hey! _I'm_ human, thanks." Plei protested.

"Yeah, but you're not like them. They're still quarreling over land and considering exterminating other races."

"Good people aren't the only ones hoping for better lives. You'll have to deal with it."

"Oh, and what about you?"

They crested a small climb up a few vines. Plei proceeded to the kitesails, pulling her hair up into a ponytail while she was at it. Maycoe was frowning at Plei, ever trying to figure the woman out. One moment, Plei was talking about being only human, and the next she was accepting both good and bad in the world.

"Me too. Besides, if they act too harshly, the planet will take care of them, no matter what I think."

"Alright. Take care of it quickly, will you? The Elves near here are due to arrive in the afternoon to speak with you."

"I know. What's it about, again?"

"Help with the plants they've had trouble dealing with, wiping the humans off the face of this planet, what you'd like your religion to be called, and where the tree that can make elixir of immortality is- you know, the important stuff." Maycoe sighed.

Plei gave Maycoe a withered look, but the pale-skinned woman only smirked, her arms crossed. Finally, Maycoe motioned.

"Get to it. If you're not back, I'll take care of the meeting for you."

"Now that's a frightening idea."

Plei kicked off from the edge of the landing, and the kitesail caught the wind sharply. This would have unlodged any new practitioner, but Plei's muscles were tensed, expectant of the sudden jerk, and she was able to use it to her advantage, immediately tilting the equipment toward some thermal air to lift her even higher above the trees. At this height, she could see everything. Or, so she told herself- treetops and natural camouflage kept some beings from her sight.

During the flight, Plei couldn't help but think back on what had happened. Her absence had allowed the people who came to this world to scatter and quarrel, struggling to claim a life on a planet that did not welcome it. When she had arrived, plenty had been skeptical, mainly of her prowess to defend and care for herself, let alone hundreds of others. Hired thieves and thugs that had made it through came after her, but Plei proved herself capable.

After the people who wanted to go home were returned, Plei moved on to finding proper places for people to start their lives. It was amazing how many species were scattered across the Multiverse. There were Kithkin, short people who were as capable as normal humans, merfolk, many different variations of humans, elves, many kor, a few kitsune, secretive but bright angels, spirits… So many kinds had come that Plei could not name them all. But all chose to work alongside Plei, so that the planet and people may prosper and focus on growth.

Many humans took root in the plains, and the Centaurs enjoyed an unbound landscape, where they could run along both plains and forests. The merfolk took rest deep in the waters, but came to visit whenever something troubled them that Plei might be able to help. Vampires kept to themselves, as they had all relocated to the dark, cold islands of the south. Everyone fit, and more were coming each day, although the wave of people who had initially appeared had filtered down to a trickle. Plei was glad. She didn't know how much more the planet could tolerate.

Hedrons were periodically seen, which worried Plei somewhat. They seemed to shift in and out of this existence and Zendikar's, and Pleisorium couldn't help but wonder whether it would draw the Eldrazi here. She would flat-out murder them if they put a single tentacle near her planet. Plei had seen what the Eldrazi could do, and she chose to take no chances.

About this planet… what would she name it? She flew above its lands on the Kor's kitesail, gazing down on a landscape of large earth pillars, which housed the beginnings of a human city. It was good tactical ground, next to a vast set of plains. Birds flew around particular buildings at the settlement that Plei had just passed. She glanced at them. Anyone who was uneducated would think they were just a group of birds, but Plei knew they were squadron hawks, already being trained for war. Were these people seriously thinking of leading happy lives, or was someone hoping for war one day? Sometimes, Plei wondered.

The forest was Talvala… The seas were yet unnamed- Plei would leave that to the merfolk, who would be living there alone. She didn't even want to bother with the mountains. Plei was not the only one who was disturbed by its fiery presence. And the islands were far too many too count. She knew what the call the plains: Mithred. But what of the whole planet, the whole plane?

_Etsia._

It was like a whisper of wind. Or perhaps it was more akin to a brush of thought in her head.

_Etsia._

Vague and quiet, the voice was somehow full of life. Or could she even call it a voice? Plei wasn't so sure, but she felt something nudge her.

_Etsia_.

It urged her once again. And Plei thought it over. Etsia, huh? The name was short and simple, yet rolled easily off the tongue. It seemed to fit the planet's 'voice' nicely, as well. Oh, who was she kidding? Plei didn't have any say in the matter.

"Etsia it is." Plei said into the wind before tilting her kitesail so that she could land. The people below were quite panicked, quite separate from the peace Plei and Etsia shared.

**Cards Used: Timbermaw Larva, Kitesail, Squadron Hawk**

**Shieb: And here's the final chapter of the story. It gives you a glimpse as to what comes to pass in the future, as well as how Etsia may develop. There is something I'd like to share about my characters. All of them, including Etsia, are at your disposal. I do not mind their use at all in any fanfics, just as long as you let me know you're using them.**

**You may notice another chapter after this one, despite this being the last chapter in the story. The next one is full of information on characters, Etsia, and the method in which I wrote this story. If you're interested in little fun facts, and maybe a writing challenge, go read on ahead! ^_^**

**Until next I write- and believe me, I will be writing again.  
**


	15. Special Extras

**Shieb: This chapter is simply filled with interesting facts, including information about the 60 card challenge, as well as precise details about the characters. If you do not wish for any spoilers and have not read the entire book, please read the Character Notes at your own risk.**

60 Card Challenge

For Of Protection and Instinct, my friend and I challenged each other. I told her that each Planeswalker's deck told a story of their adventures, and she said "Ok, let's do it." After I got over my confusion, we laid out the basic rules for the challenge.

Choose 60 cards from a collection of Magic: The Gathering cards. These do not have to make a functional deck.

Shuffle thoroughly.

Draw 5 cards. These 5 cards have to show up in the chapter that you're writing.

These are the basic rules. The 60 card challenge can be changed to 40 cards or however many is more convenient for a story or length you have in mind. How many cards you draw per chapter can be manipulated as well, not to mention the actual type of cards you use. You could do this with Pokemon or Yu-gi-oh cards, if you wanted. Up there are the basic rules, but my friend and I also added these to our particular challenge:

If you peek out of curiosity to see what your next five or last five might be, shuffle the deck again.

Once you use the cards, you are allowed to reuse them in later chapters.

All other cards are not allowed.

You can add your own rules to make this as blind, flexible, or ungoverned as you like. You could change how you draw cards, so it's guaranteed to be random, or you and your partner (if you choose to have one) could switch decks every chapter. You could even make mini-decks for each section of the story you're concerned with. You might need a certain card at a certain time in the story, or perhaps only cards from certain sets should show up at the beginning, middle, and end. There's really no limit to how interesting you could make this experience.

I personally enjoyed making up a story out of nothing, but found that the quality of the story lacked in the end, since I had no idea what I was doing. You might want to figure out the basics of the story before you start randomly drawing cards. If you're like me, and you have a limited set of cards from a certain world, then you might be limited in your story as well (my story kept needing to return to Zendikar), but if you're fortunate enough to have a vast array of cards from all different sets, then you can have a wide array of adventures.

My challenge to you is to try this. Choose your number of cards, make a basic plan, and twist around the basic rules a little bit to keep things interesting. My friend and I did this. In fact, I'll be doing it all over again with another adventure. I can assure you this is extremely fun, and I want to see more people take the challenge. If you, who are reading right now, decide to take the challenge, please let me know- I will read and rate every chapter as a thank-you.

Character Notes

**Note: If you have not read all previous chapters, there will likely be spoilers for you up ahead. If you don't wish for any, please avoid reading this section of the chapter. I am not responsible for any spoiling of the story.**

Pleisorium-

The main character of the story. Pleisorium, or Plei, was given to a foster mother when she was little to protect her from the conflicts that her mother and father were involved in. In addition to this, Plei was given her father's Old Spark, to protect her from the disease she was born with. The spark shielded Plei from harm by also changing her appearance, such as making her hair color resemble her foster mother's instead of its natural brown. Plei's foster mother, though Plei knew her as her true mother, consistently trained Plei in speed so that she could run away when needed, and also taught Plei to recognize a vast array of beasts, most not from the plane they lived on- Dominaria. It is uncertain where Plei was exactly born.

Age: 15

Height: 5'4" at start, 5'6" by end

Natural Hair: Light brown

Natural Iris: Green

**Note: I give how old the characters were when they met Plei. At the end of the book, most of them are around two years older.**

Pleisorium eventually meets her father after being found by his enemy, Belnair. Belnair has chased Plei down ever since he found she had her father's spark, since Belnair wanted it to make himself stronger. The adventures ensuing caused Plei to dislike those of red mana strongly, and she'll naturally distrust any strangers with red mana, once including a baby dragon (this turned out to be warranted, as the baby dragon gave away Plei's location).

Plei never fully forgives her father and real mother for abandoning her, but she does meet and grow to like them. Her mother dies two years after Plei destroys the Old Spark, and her father decides he has lived long enough soon after, leaving Plei to take care of Etsia on her own while relying on Elixir of Immortality to sustain her health. Plei does eventually heal from the disease she was born with, thereby freeing her of the need to use Elixir of Immortality.

Plei considers Etsia, the plane she shaped, to be her own, and also treats Etsia as its own person, referring to it as a 'her' and stating it has its own will several times. While Plei is extremely protective of her planet and will not tolerate mass stupidity on Etsia- both for Etsia's protection and the offender's- she is also very nurturing toward the new inhabitants and does what she can to help them grow. The only thing Plei regrets about inviting those who want new homes to Etsia is that they will eventually cause war.

Pleisorium later grows to become a strong woman, both admired by the hopeful and hated by the cruel-hearted. She becomes known for her green magics and the white beasts she summons. Plei is the strong leader of all on Etsia, although her presence becomes scarce as the people learn how to govern themselves within the guidelines that the planet will sharply enforce. Somehow, a religion has appeared, based around Plei and her abilities as a Planeswalker.

Draetur-

A Planeswalker drake. Draetur was born on Jund, a world of dragons. Although it seems an impossible feat for a creature attributed to blue mana to live in a world devoid of such a thing, Draetur lived there. As the shards of Alara began to collide, he and his family were thrust through to Jund. His family of drakes was lower on the food chain than the dragons, but they learned to survive on the primordial manas that governed Jund, and so survived as unusually close-knit families. In a tongue of dragonic beings, he named himself Draetur, which literally means 'dragon.'

Age: 60 (young for a drake)

Height: 22'

Scales: Blue w/ tan underbelly

Iris: Deep blue

Card: Snapping Drake

**I really had nothing planned for the Snapping Drake card, other than the fact that he would save Plei. Suddenly, he took on a character of his own. He became a talking Planeswalker drake who was very strong and loyal.**

When Draetur's spark activated, Draetur suddenly became aware of things as he had not before. Without the spark, he was purely a creature of instinct, but with it, he recognized feelings such as fear and anger, which at first terrified him. He also slowly gained the ability of speech by quietly listening to humans and goblins, and painstakingly piecing together the meanings of each word.

The drake became enemies with the hellkite Belnair while both still lived on Jund. Both gained the powers of their spark around the same time, but Draetur was the one who came to value morals. Belnair, naturally being greedy, vowed to attract more power, and so he eventually came across and destroyed Draetur's family, deeming them too weak to live. Draetur naturally felt protective of his less able brethren and fought Belnair. Draetur has always had greater agility between him and Belnair, and Belnair had always had the greatest power, even when Draetur grew up. Belnair has always been older than Draetur, but is not old enough to have been born with an Old Spark.

Belnair discontinued Draetur's challenge and walked to another plane, pursuing his goal to become the strongest. Draetur learned to walk soon after that and ran into many problems concerning this process before running into Razel, who was in battle with Belnair's minions. Draetur helped him and learned that Belnair was after Razel for his power- a thing which Razel laughed at- and decided to ally himself with Razel, in the hopes of meeting Belnair again.

Although Draetur never met Plei until the happenings of this story, he was aware Razel had a child, and felt unusually protective over her. He also has a habit of using her full name instead of the shorter version.

Laurie Preystar-

A talkative sparkmage. Born on Zendikar, Laurie knew only the myths and facts of Zendikar to be true. She grew up with a younger sister and is quite protective of her, although the two may quarrel now and again because they both like to talk- a lot. Their father died when Laurie was around 10, so her younger sister barely remembers the man. The mother of the house raised them to be 'strong', and encouraged livelihood, which led to Laurie's fiery temper and her admission into being trained as a sparkmage.

Age: 19

Height: 5' 8"

Hair: Black

Iris: Dark brown

Card: Sparkmage Apprentice

**My intention with Laurie was to make her too talkative and a little oblivious of other people's problems. I honestly don't think I made her annoying enough.**

When Laurie met Plei, she thought the girl merely strange. Plei spoke of elements that Laurie hadn't even heard of, not to mention she was wandering around, alone, where travelers were regularly attacked. However, the night Laurie found Plei, the girl disappeared.

Later, there was a simultaneous attack by the Eldrazi and a strange group of red mages. The mages came first, gathering all those who used red mana. Laurie was overpowered and distracted when not only her sister was taken, but the Eldrazi appeared and smote everything they touched. Laurie and her sister were then taken away to a camp of Belnair's, where it was made clear that they would join him or die.

After Belnair is defeated, Laurie is reunited with her sister, just as Plei is reunited with her foster mother. The two grow strong and make their own way in Zendikar, although Laurie is never quite able to return to a normal life. She still remembers that there is much more beyond Zendikar and often times grows restless.

Maycoe-

A loyal hookmaster. Maycoe was born on what she remembers to be a turbulent plane, but was later pulled into Rath, a plane utilized by the Phyrexians to wage more efficient war. She grew up with the belief that if she did not put herself first, she would die. Maycoe grew up in a colony of En-Kor, who opposed Phyrexian rule. The conflict between the En-Kor and the Il-Kor, who supported Phyrexian rule, filled up most of Maycoe's memories from when she was younger and eventually consumed her.

Age: 16

Height: 5'7"

Hair: White

Iris: Pale

Card: Kor Hookmaster

**In every description, the Kor are said to have blue skin. Despite this, I have never seen a picture of a Kor with anything other than white skin, and have therefore described them as having 'pale skin' in the book.**

Maycoe meets Plei after a conflict between the En- and Il-Kor drives Maycoe to fight against her own people. Terrified at the conflict and being hunted down, Maycoe fled, only to be pulled into a net of energy that eventually dumped her onto Etsia, although the planet had no name at the time. Pushed into what she felt to be a corner (she didn't know where she was and still suspected she was being chased), Maycoe confronted the first person she saw, which happened to be the only person on the planet.

After the conflict with Belnair ends, Maycoe sets aside her shame from the conflict before and lives with Plei on Etsia, staying as a loyal friend and advocate. She enjoys the chance to make a new life that is not ruled by Phyrexians, and often takes to warning those who push on conflict that both she and the planet will be cruel to them if they try to break the peace. Plei often times considers Maycoe the only thing that keeps her grounded, somehow always reminding her about the reality of who Plei is instead of who everyone wants Plei to be.

Tenia-

The devil-may-care vampire. Not much is to be said about Tenia. She grew up among vampires, but quickly became an outsider, due to her personality. Tenia became a lone vampire that traveled around Zendikar while following the scent of blood, often leading her to awkward and violent situations, which only served to enforce her cold attitude towards life. Before she met Plei, Tenia once met with a Planeswalker and tasted their blood. Her sense of smell is higher than that of a normal vampire's because she was able to differentiate between a Planeswalker and a normal person from then on, and also longed for Planeswalker blood.

Age: ? (Looks 25 or so)

Height: 5'10"

Hair: Black

Iris: Black

Card: Child of Night

**I thought I was done with Tenia after the second chapter. Then Plei was back in Zendikar, and Tenia suddenly appeared. She turned out to make things more interesting, so I enjoyed making her an actual character.**

Since Tenia knew about Planeswalkers beforehand, Tenia's outlook on life wasn't necessarily changed by her interactions with Plei. She was never especially loyal to Plei, although it seemed at times she might be. If asked, Tenia only wanted the Planeswalker's blood at their first meeting and used Plei afterwards, hoping to get blood from an older Planeswalker like Belnair (she considers age to sweeten blood like one would think of wine). It's never quite said, but Tenia agrees to help Plei and not to harm her. In exchange, Plei has to get Tenia close enough to drink from an older Planeswalker.

After the conflict ends, Tenia returns to Zendikar, turning down Plei's offer to live on Etsia. She claims the pact was finished, and so returns to the lonely life she knew before.

Razel-

True father of Pleisorium. Razel is a very old Planeswalker and is so old, in fact, that he was born with an Old Spark, granting him a major power boost, as well as near immortality. Razel's adventures from when he was very little to when he was a very old and wise Planeswalker cultivated into many legends that strayed across the Multiverse, one of which being that he grew a large forest on Zendikar, which has been the most stable source of mana since. It was hard for Razel to even picture staying with anyone, since his spark allowed him to watch all of his friends and family die while he remained immortal.

Age: Unknown. Somewhere in the thousands.

Height: 6'7"

Hair: Brown

Iris: Dark brown

**I never mentioned this, but Razel was the one who named Pleisorium. He named her after an element of the earth that was both strong and flexible, hoping she would attain the same qualities in her life.**

After living for many years, Razel was finally attracted to and settled down with a woman, who was also a Planeswalker. This was around the time that Razel and Belnair came into conflict, as Belnair learned Razel had an old spark which, if given to Belnair, would grant him near immortality and more power than he could imagine. Razel selfishly denied Belnair's request and, as a consequence, came to be at war with Belnair. The man protected as many people from Belnair as he could, but Belnair somehow managed to get to Razel's wife and poisoned her, making her deathly ill. The illness passed onto Razel's newborn child, and as the conflict grew, Razel decided to give the child his Spark so that she might be spared from death. He then decided, along with is wife, to give their child to a foster mother who would protect her until the war was ended.

By the time Pleisorium meets with her father, he has become quite the legend, gathering together many races from many different planes under a banner that showed a shield divided into five sections. This shield was not a symbol of the Coalition from Dominaria, but was instead Razel's personal symbol. The diamond-like shield's five pieces were each given a color, pointing out Razel's mastery of all five colors of mana.

Fariel-

Traitorous Serra Angel. Fariel was said to have great potential when she was young, and trained long and hard to protect that which was good. However, as she was released to be on her own, Fariel encountered Belnair and was pulled in by the temptation of power and status.

Age: 30

Height: 5'8"

Hair: Strawberry blond

Iris: Pale brown

Card: Serra Angel

**During the writing process, I kept forgetting Fariel was a girl. For some odd reason, the name seemed more like a guy's name, so the image in my head kept changing, causing numerous mistakes in the first drafts.**

Fariel joined Belnair with the belief that she was helping those who were good and righteous, but found herself instead hated by all of Belnair's followers. Even Belnair looked at her with slight disdain, despite her potential power. Eventually, Fariel stopped caring as her own desires flooded over her teachings, and she began to desire more power, just like Belnair, without being subjugated to him. Fariel then grew rebellious and fled from Belnair, instead hoping that her mastery of all things light would win her a position in Razel's army, where she could get close to such a source of power. Before she could find a way to overpower Razel and his daughter, who held his spark, Fariel was found by Belnair and threatened. Either she would pledge fealty to him, or he would kill her. Somewhere along the line, Fariel also dabbled in more black manas, though whether for power or for recognition, it is unknown. After the end of the conflict with Belnair, Fariel is eventually hunted down and made to pay for her crimes.

Belnair-

The main villain in the story. Belnair is entirely motivated by greed and the urge to attain more power. He was born on Jund, where he first made enemies with the Planeswalker Draetur, and eventually left his home plane to pursue more power. Although an already old and formidable power, Belnair was not satisfied.

Age: 700 or so

Height: 60'

Scales: From top to bottom, the colors fade from an almost black red to a pale white, but the dominant color is red.

Iris: Red

Card: Ancient Hellkite

**Belnair's name doesn't really fit him. It means 'Sky'.**

Belnair seems to be the least interesting character for me. His entire motivation was greed, and he naturally has no regard for morals or other people's feelings, which may not be surprising, seeing as how he lived most of his life in Jund, where battles for the life were constant and imminent. He gathered strong followers that caught his eye, but mainly focused on creating an army of red mages, calling all other colors of mana a sickness upon life. Despite this, he still made allies with those like Coverru and Fariel.

Coverru-

Questionable Death Cultist. Coverru lives his dark, dreary life looking for new ways to raise the dead and mastering all types of magic that he can possess, though he has only seen using red and black manas in the book.

Age: 45?

Height: 5'9"

Hair: What hair?

Eyes: Black

Card: Death Cultist

**A lot of things about Coverru were random. His name was thought up on the spot, his swaying allegiance came to be in the chapter mentioned (12), and his use of red mana (Claws of Valakut to be exact) was only because I could find no other convenient way to use the card, seeing as how Plei hates red mana and would never touch it at that point in her life.**

Despite apparently following Belnair, it's made clear later on that Coverru has no real loyalty towards Belnair, and is only interested in the man who can teach him the most. Coverru has his own priorities, and cares for no one other than those who can further his goals. As long as you appeal to those goals, however, Coverru would be a very strong ally, since he doesn't skimp on any job. Coverru is also a Planeswalker.

Etsia-

Living Plane. Before Plei's Old Spark calmed the plane, it was turbulent. Its energies had no flow and were overflowing, causing constant uproars and heaving ground, similar to Zendikar's Roil. No plants grew that were green, instead appearing like pictures being drawn at high speeds, and it was a miracle anything was there to sustain life in such a dark plane.

**I've never heard of any plane being shaped by anyone before, much less becoming a conscious being that adores its shaper. It makes Etsia extremely unique, though.**

When Plei appeared on this nameless plane, she met the full force of its Roil. Slowly, Plei's spark began to calm the planet's energies and give them a less sporadic and violent flow, eventually leading to the blooming of many plants, appearance of oceans, and stampedes of animals. At this point, the plane gained a consciousness as well, made apparent when it offers to show the oblivious Plei what happened through a sort of mental connection.

After Plei leaves to get more supplies, which eventually leads on the second half of her adventures, more people appear upon the plane. Maycoe was the first to be drawn in, but humans, elves, centaurs, and so on are drawn to the plane by Plei's invitation. The plane does not exactly greet these people, instead viewing them with suspicion and turning upon them, poisoning random plants and animals that the people eat in order to rebel against their strange presence. When Plei returns, however, the woman asks the planet to calm down and accepts the people, staying the plane's cruel hand.

The planet is, overall, described as being rather kind and possibly childish, although it seems to be very fond of Plei. One can't be sure how a conscious plane will take root as it develops, but it is safe to state that no guest upon her soil will be unwatched. The plane also gives its name to Plei, calling itself Etsia on what could be described as a whisper of wind. 'Etsia' is a warped version of Etesian, the name for a northerly summer wind of the Mediterranean.

After Plei's invitation, Etsia is known to have a vast variety of people upon it from all species, which band together in their own allegiances and settlements. These people came from all planes and naturally clash, having different cultures and all of them generally being in shock from the sudden change in where they are. Etsia disapproves of conflict and isn't beyond striking back if things turn violent among its people. Etsia also becomes somewhat of a place for Planeswalkers to go, since Plei has been open about the existence of Planeswalkers, being one herself, as well as the plane's shaper. It's usually rare for Planeswalkers to really meet each other, but Etsia is very close to Dominaria, and so it is close to the center of the planes. Not to mention, once Etsia is known, it becomes a convenient place for Planeswalkers to meet without having to be extremely secretive about their intentions. Both Plei and Etsia work as guards for the people that are under their charge, including guests.

Etsia is also said to have a golden tree which helps to produce the Elixir of Immortality. It turns out that the planet does have this, and Plei uses it in order to produce the Elixir, which helps her stay alive until her body can fight away the disease she was born with. This tree is closely guarded afterward.

Interesting Facts:

It's never really mentioned, but in chapter 6, the dragon whelp is actually an agent of Belnair, allowing Coverru to find Plei.

The bird in Plei's dream in chapter 7 was indeed a Bird of Paradise, a bird whose colorful feathers are a testament to how many planes they've visited.

Acknowledgements:

Thank you, Faceplant02, for giving me such great editing advice. If not for you, I would not have noticed some pretty important things, and looking for some errors also caused me to realize a few things. For example, the '~' lines do not transfer over, and so my scene separators were desperately lacking when I uploaded the chapters. Thank you so much.

Also, thank you Ulquiorra9000 for reviewing every single chapter and giving me interesting insight. Your opinions were appreciated, and you were a valuable well of information for me to tap, allowing me to flesh out my story a little more realistically. Thank you very much.

I must also thank my friend, Cats Cross, for taking this challenge with me. It wouldn't be as much fun without swapping chapters and ideas, as well as poking each other in the ribs, trying to get our friend's next chapter out a little quicker so we can read it.


End file.
